Rachel Reeves has insisted taxes have been kept at “an absolute minimum on ordinary working people”, even as an influential think tank said low-to-middle earners would have been better off with their tax rates rising than their thresholds being frozen.

The defiant-sounding Chancellor also defended her position, saying: “You’re not going to write my obituary today,” after delivering a Budget she was “incredibly proud” of.

Her decisions put Britain on course for a record tax burden as she hiked levies by £26 billion after weaker economic forecasts left holes in her previous spending plans.

The increases are also needed to pay for increased welfare spending, with Ms Reeves announcing the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty.

“I’m not goi

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