What does Labour's budget hope to achieve for the worst-off in gloomy Britain?

When politicians talk about “the economy”, it sometimes isn’t clear whose economy they mean. The economy of the nation? Your family’s earnings, savings and expenditure?

Two economies really matter. One is the economy we read about in newspapers, full of chatter about raising taxes, cutting spending, stock market bubbles and gloomy prophecies of a market crash. But for most of us, it’s our personal circumstances, salaries, bills and whether shopping and eating out is an affordable treat or a problem to be navigated. The macro and the micro are connected, but for all of us there is one overwhelming economic question that affects our lives. Do we feel confident about being richer or poorer in a year or two ahead?

In conversations with friends in Britain, it is difficult to avoid a sense of gloom. A successful businessman tells me one of his businesses will lose tens of thousands of pounds this winter. He is hopeful things will pick up in the spring. My friend is always hopeful because he is also creative and well-meaning, which is why his businesses usually are successful.

For example, when I suggested he could lay off employees to save wage costs until things improve, he shook his head vigorously. “They are good people,” was his response, and “if I let them go I probably won’t get them back”. Besides, making employees redundant in the run-up to Christmas is not something my friend would ever contemplate. He will take a financial hit and hope in the spring that the sun will shine again.

These are, however, leaden times for businesses across Britain, and my neighbourhood is no exception. At least three local high street stores have closed in recent months. Two sold cheap, cut-price items. The third was a niche retailer of inexpensive electrical products.

Another local business fell on hard times and has just been sold, although I suspect this leap of faith from the buyers that they can turn it round may not work. Another business in the hospitality industry has been up for sale for months without result.