Reeves’s spending priorities leave little wiggle room

The words Spending Review may not instantly quicken the heart rate of many, but what we hear from the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have an impact on what your life is like in the UK in the coming years.

It could be one of the defining moments between now and the next general election, as the government divvies up spending for the health service, defence, schools, the police, prisons, courts and much else.

After plenty of words about the government’s priorities, we will get a sense of the numbers. And yes, a sense of the winners and losers.

We can expect ministers to claim that much of what it has done in its first year in office has been about “fixing the foundations”.

That is code for the tricky stuff: think those big and in many places unpopular tax rises, such as the increase in…