OBR chair Richard Hughes resigns after leak ‘inflicted heavy damage’ on watchdog December 1, 2025 The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Richard Hughes has resigned after a report provided a damning assessment of management at the top of the fiscal watchdog after it leaked its fiscal report before the Budget. Hughes, who has faced pressure from the government since the leak, said he was taking full responsibility [...]
Voters’ verdict: Tax hikes breach manifesto and Reeves should resign December 1, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves should resign following a decision to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds in a move seen by voters as a breach of Labour’s manifesto, new polling has revealed. The government is facing intense pressure over the way it conducted economic policymaking, with questions lurking over a potential breach of the Labour [...]
Starmer denies misleading public as fresh row with OBR erupts December 1, 2025 Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied accusations that Chancellor Rachel Reeves misled cabinet colleagues – and the country – over the state of public finances in the lead-up to the Budget as tax rumours hinged on the belief that there was a £30bn shortfall in the fiscal headroom. In a press conference at a nursery [...]
OBR warns higher taxes could hit growth ‘by more than expected’ November 29, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned that increasing the tax burden could leave the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s key forecasts on shakier ground as it becomes harder to predict how measures hamper growth. In the small print of its Budget report, the fiscal watchdog said increasing the tax take could lead to unforeseen consequences [...]
FCA pressed to investigate Treasury over Budget briefings November 29, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has been urged to wade into the row between the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility and investigate government briefings about a so-called £20bn fiscal hole. Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn urged the City regulator to investigate Reeves and other Downing Street officials over “deliberately false and misleading” briefings [...]
Reeves accused of misleading country over ‘black hole’ in public finances November 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves is in the firing line for “misleading the country” after the chair of the fiscal watchdog poured cold water over claims there was a black hole in public finances. In a new letter addressed to the chair of the Treasury select committee, the OBR chair Richard Hughes said he was taking the “unusual [...]
Leak and Let Die: OBR calls in former spook to investigate early Budget release November 27, 2025 The embattled Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has brought in a former top spook to investigate how its entire forecast was published early before Rachel Reeves stood up to deliver the Budget. Alongside the watchdog’s oversight board, Ciaran Martin, former chief of the National Cyber Security Centre – part of the security services – will [...]
‘Deceiving’ Budget: Reeves to delay debt ‘repair’ amid interest rate hold fears November 27, 2025 A left-leaning think tank has sounded the alarm on the the delay of the “repair job” for public finances after Rachel Reeves increased short-term borrowing levels to pay for higher welfare spending next year. The Resolution Foundation, which was previously headed by Treasury minister Torsten Bell, suggested Rachel Reeves’ Budget was “deceiving” by back-loading consolidation [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Entain, Flutter sound alarm in Reeves’ tax raid aftermath November 27, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The dust has settled on the Labour government’s second Autumn Budget and Brits have been left reeling from a £26bn tax raid. Taxes collected as a share of GDP are set to jump to an all-time high in the coming years, according to the Office [...]
Thanks to Reeves, our economy is now a 20 mile per hour zone November 27, 2025 If, on Wednesday morning, you’d asked me how this entire Budget process could ever get more chaotic and absurd I might have said “I suppose the entire thing could leak, before the Chancellor delivers it.” Then again, I probably wouldn’t have suggested such an implausible scenario. But at 11.44am yesterday morning, just ten minutes before [...]