OBR questioned on Reeves’ flip-flopping and forecast changes November 20, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s chief has been questioned on whether he dramatically upgraded forecasts midway through the Chancellor’s Budget planning, affording Rachel Reeves as much as a £10bn swing in headroom projections and allowing her to abandon plans to raise income taxes. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has written to Richard Hughes, chair of [...]
‘Shenanigans’: Did the OBR save Reeves from hiking income taxes at the Budget? November 18, 2025 For weeks, Chancellor Rachel Reeves had been engaged in an extraordinary communications exercise of expectation management, leading Brits to believe that income tax was about to hiked for the first time in 50 years. In an unusual press conference earlier this month, she told journalists that everyone would have to contribute to the Labour government’s [...]
Hotels and shops to be hit by fresh Reeves tax raid November 17, 2025 Hotels and supermarkets are set to be hit by extra taxes at the upcoming Budget as Chancellor Rachel Reeves hopes to raise more than £20bn in taxes. Reeves is planning to allow mayors to hit holidaymakers with an overnight levy on hotel and rental home stays at the Budget, opening up new cash streams for [...]
Productivity growth twitchy in wake-up call for OBR and Reeves November 13, 2025 Productivity levels stuttered in the third quarter of the year, an initial estimate has shown, subverting the Chancellor’s hopes of boosting output in the UK economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday morning that quarterly growth in output per hour rates was 0.7 per cent, the highest level since the end of [...]
UK economy barely grows in third quarter November 13, 2025 The UK economy grew at a more sluggish pace than expected in the third quarter of the year amid a pervasive sense of gloom across the country ahead of the Budget. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was 0.1 per cent GDP growth between July and September, triggering fears among City analysts that [...]
Pensions, motorists and workers: The tax targets Rachel Reeves is eyeing up November 7, 2025 If there is one thing that is clear three weeks out from the Autumn Budget, it is that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will hike taxes. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which scores the economic impacts of the government’s policies and publishes forecasts on public finances, has been questioned for being over optimistic on measures such [...]
Tax row erupts as Reeves tells watchdog she will break manifesto November 7, 2025 The Labour government is split in a fresh tax row after Rachel Reeves reportedly told the fiscal watchdog she will raise income tax in her forthcoming Autumn Budget – a move that will break a key manifesto pledge. The Chancellor is said to have informed the Office for Budget Responsibility that an increase to income [...]
OBR should focus more on policy growth ‘upsides’ – says Tony Blair think tank November 6, 2025 The Government must force the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to take more account of policy “upsides” when assessing an impact on growth, Tony Blair’s think tank has said. The Treasury watchdog should be required to be bolder in predicting growth to reward more ambitious economic policies, a report by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) [...]
‘We all have to do our bit’ – Reeves primes Brits for tax hikes November 4, 2025 Rachel Reeves has refused to rule out hiking taxes on millions of Brits as she said everybody will have to “contribute” to fix the UK economy. At a speech on Tuesday, the Chancellor said this year’s Budget would look to address the low productivity, curb inflation in order to prompt fresh interest rate cuts and [...]
Rachel Reeves considering ‘exit tax’ on wealthy Brits fleeing the UK November 3, 2025 Rachel Reeves is looking at a tax on wealthy Brits leaving the UK and a mansion tax, as last ditch levers to pull ahead of the Budget. The Times reported on a possible 20 per cent “settling-up charge” on business assets, which is the rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT). It is thought that the [...]