Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to unveil £35billion in tax rises in just hours when she delivers the first ever Budget given by a woman.
In what has already been dubbed as “the biggest heist in modern political history”, the Labour politician will set out plans to increase money coming into the Treasury’s coffers, slash public spending, and ramp up Government borrowing.
Reeves will paint her Budget – Labour’s first in 14 years – as a major opportunity to change the future of Britain.
She is expected to say: “This is not the first time that it has fallen to the Labour Party to rebuild Britain. In 1945, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our country out of the rubble of the Second World War. In 1964, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt Britain with the white heat of technology. And in 1997, it was the Labour Party that rebuilt our schools and hospitals.
“Today, it falls to this Labour Party, this Labour Government, to rebuild Britain once again.”
But critics have already accused the Government of breaking its General Election promises and of crippling the country.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick said: “This Budget completes the biggest heist in modern political history. The Labour Party won power by lying to the British public about their plan to hike taxes.”
Meanwhile, rival Kemi Badenoch said: “Reeves is about to go on a spending binge with the nation’s credit card, throwing billions into an unreformed system which will take the money but not deliver the results.”
FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY…
UK stocks drop ahead of Reeves’ tax-hiking Budget
The FTSE 100 has suffered a stark drop ahead of Rachel Reeves’ tax-hiking Budget later today.
There was a 0.5 per cent drop just minutes after the market opened at 8am this morning.
The slump leaves UK’s blue-chip stock index down at 8,176.05, while the FTSE 250 also fell by 0.2 per cent to 20,574.69.
Rachel Reeves risks crashing the economy, warns Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg gave a scathing assessment of Rachel Reeves last night
GB NEWS
Ahead of the Budget, last night former Conservative Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested that Rachel Reeves is going to crash the economy.
“Her plan to borrow at least another £20billion with her new changed rules contradicts what she said about fiscal responsibility,” he said on his GB News show.
“Now, you may not be a great fan of Rishi Sunak and his premiership, I certainly had my criticisms of him, but one thing he did understand was the need to reduce the debt.”
WATCH HIS DAMNING ASSESSMENT HERE
UK Armed Forces set to get extra £3billion – but no commitment to date on spending 2.5 per cent on defence
Britain’s Armed Forces are set to be given an extra £3billion today, it has been claimed.
The Chancellor is expected to announce an increase in the defence budget for the 2025-26 financial year.
Rachel Reeves’s announcement will help create a pathway to increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of national economic output.
However, there is criticism that Labour is not setting out exactly when it will hit the 2.5 per cent mark.
Ahead of the Budget – what we already know
Rachel Reeves will deliver her Budget in the House of Commons shortly after 12.30pm. But plenty of announcements from the major fiscal event have already been confirmed.
We already know that the cap on bus fares will rise by 50 per cent from £2 to £3, the national minimum wage will rise by 6.7 per cent from April, and that the Government will change its fiscal rules to allow for billions more in borrowing.
It used to be a resigning matter for a Chancellor to brief out aspects of the Budget in advance but those rules are rarely respected my ministers these days – much to the annoyance of House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.