Opinion: UK bond investors want spending cuts. John Healey’s first Budget may disappoint

John Healey may have been U.K. finance minister, or chancellor, for just 100 days, but he has already achieved something his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, did not. The build-up to her annual budgets was scarred by weeks of speculation about which taxes she would raise and, even though some of those increases never materialized, the damage to business and investor confidence was almost as great as if they had been imposed. By contrast, drawing on his experience as defense secretary, Healey has imposed tight security over preparation of his inaugural budget on Wednesday, with access to documents allowed on a strict "need to know" basis. The build-up has seen much less rumor and speculation.