Rachel Reeves has denied lying about the scale of the Budget black hole to justify her £26bn tax hikes.
Pressed by Trevor Phillips on Sky News about whether she lied to the public by not making it clear she had a £4bn surplus instead of a deficit, she hit back, saying: “Of course I didn't”.
Her denial comes as Sir Keir Starmer is set to her Budget in a speech next week after Downing Street dismissed claims the chancellor misled voters over the scale of the fiscal challenge facing the UK.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Friday said it had informed the chancellor as early as September 17 that the deficit had improved, and told her in October it had been eliminated altogether, but Ms Reeves suggested tax rises were still necessary in November to tackle a £20bn gap.
The chancellor denied breaking from the manifesto while speaking to Laura Kuenssberg: “We didn't break the manifesto.
“But am I asking working people to pay a bit more? Yes, I am.”
She also affirmed that she felt she would be chancellor for years to come.
Defiant Rachel Reeves says she will be Chancellor for years and pledges to ‘defy her critics’
Awkward moment Rachel Reeves shown resurfaced interview saying she wouldn’t raise taxes in Budget
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana dropped as Your Party leaders
Rachel Reeves responds to Kemi Badenoch’s ‘misogyny and mansplaining’ Budget attack
Key Points
- Reeves denies lying about Budget shortfall to justify tax raid
- Chancellor insists Labour hasn't broken manifesto promise not to raise taxes
- Starmer knew there was no 'black hole in public finances' - report
- Starmer to back Budget amid row over Reeves’ deficit claims
- Reeves affirms she will remain chancellor for years to come
Setback for Jeremy Corbyn as Your Party opts for collective leadership
22:00 , Alex CroftJeremy Corbyn suffered a setback on Sunday as his new party’s founding conference rejected his preferred leadership set-up.
Members of the new Your Party voted narrowly against having a single elected leader, opting instead for a collective model that put a committee of members in charge.
Mr Corbyn, the former Labour leader, had previously said he backed the “sole leader” model and would stand for the position.
The collective model had been supported by Mr Corbyn’s rival, former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, after her preferred “co-leadership” plan had been blocked from consideration by members.
Analysis | Reeves is misleading people about her Budget choices – and Starmer could fall with her
21:30 , Alex CroftThe original sin of this Labour government is that it was utterly unprepared for office. In opposition, Keir Starmer thought that hiring Sue Gray – a mid-level civil servant with a certain mystique to her reputation – was all he needed to do while he and his team focused on winning the election.
Thus, he and Rachel Reeves yielded hostage after hostage to fortune, and they are now paying the ransom.
There was the drafting of the manifesto. The wording of the section on tax was a mess. It said “Labour will not increase taxes on working people”, a blanket pledge which was followed by specific promises on national insurance, income tax rates and VAT.
Our chief political commentator John Rentoul writes:
Reeves defends decision to abolish two-child benefit cap
21:01 , Alex CroftChancellor Rachel Reeves has defended her decision to abolish the two-child benefit cap, saying the government was “choosing children”.
She said: “The people I was thinking about were kids who I know in my constituency go to school hungry and go to bed in cold and damp homes, and from April next year those parents will have a bit more support to help their kids.”
Sir Keir Starmer is also expected to defend the Budget and the Chancellor in a speech on Monday setting out his long-term growth plans.
Reeves was 'uncomfortable' with Badenoch response to Budget
20:30 , Alex CroftRachel Reeves said she had been “uncomfortable” listening to Kemi Badenoch’s response to the Budget, in which the Conservative leader mocked and impersonated the Chancellor.
Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t like that sort of stuff. I don’t do it. I try to concentrate on policies rather than personalities.
“I would just say that Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss’s budget, she said was 100 per cent right, so I’m not totally sure whether her judgment chimes with the British public.
“But as a politician, I have always tried to focus on the issues and not the personalities. It’s just not the sort of politics that I do.
“So, yes, I was a bit uncomfortable listening to that, because it’s not really the way that I behave, but people are entitled to deliver the Budget response that they want and she focused on personalities.
“I would have preferred to hear Kemi Badenoch set out her alternative economic proposals. We haven’t heard that.”
Watch: Awkward moment Reeves shown previous interview saying she wouldn't raise taxes in Budget
20:00 , Alex CroftRecap: £4bn headroom would have been lowest any chancellor had secured against fiscal rules, says Reeves
19:32 , Alex CroftRachel Reeves has said that the £4 billion headroom reported by the Office of Budget Responsibility would have been the lowest headroom any chancellor had secured against their fiscal rules.
It also did not take into account decisions such as the U-turn on cutting winter fuel payments or welfare reform, or the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, expected to take 450,000 children out of poverty.
She told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show: “If I was on this programme today and I said I’ve got a £4.2 billion surplus, you would have said, and rightly so, ‘that is not enough, Chancellor’.”
She added: “In the context of a downgrade in our productivity, which cost £16 billion, I needed to increase taxes, and I was honest and frank about that in the speech that I gave at beginning of November.”
Your Party reveals new name after months of indecision and confusion
19:01 , Alex CroftYour Party has finally decided on its formal name as its founding conference comes to a close after months of confusion and indecision.
Co-founder Jeremy Corbyn announced that the party would continue to be called Your Party as he read out the result of a ballot. Members were told to choose between Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many.
“So on every doorstep you can go up, they say ‘who are you?’, you say it’s Your Party,” Mr Corbyn told delegates as he made the announcement on Sunday afternoon.
The party name is one of many indecisions finally being rectified after months of public disputes between Mr Corbyn and co-founder Zarah Sultana. Just yesterday, Ms Sultana criticised the fact one of her suggestions for a party name hadn’t been included as a voting options for members.
Your Party reveals new name after months of indecision and confusion
OBR investigation into Budget leak will report on Monday
18:30 , Alex CroftThe investigation into the unprecedented leak of last week’s Budget will report on Monday, the Chancellor has said.
Details of Wednesday’s Budget were mistakenly released to the public almost an hour early when official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) were uploaded to the watchdog’s website.
The OBR apologised for the leak and immediately launched an investigation, with expert input from Professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Despite Prof Martin’s involvement, the OBR has said there is no reason to suspect a cyber attack.
Recap: What is Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – and how has it changed?
18:00 , Alex CroftThe government has come under fire for rowing back on a manifesto commitment as it changes a key element of its landmark workers’ bill.
Currently in its final stages, Labour said its Employment Rights Bill would “strengthen the collective voice of workers” as part of its ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ launched ahead of the general election last year.
The raft of major changes – thought to be spearheaded by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner – included the proposal to reduce the “qualifying period” for workers to make an unfair dismissal claim from 24 months to the first day in a new job.
Albert Toth reports:
What is Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – and how has it changed?
Watch: Defiant Rachel Reeves says she will be Chancellor for years
17:30 , Bryony GoochWarning Reeves’ landlord tax will push up rent prices and cut supply
17:00 , Bryony Gooch
Warning Reeves’ landlord tax will push up rents and ‘dry up’ housing supply
Ethnic minorities could be 'imprisoned in tents' if Your Party doesn't succeed, warns Zarah Sultana
16:40 , Bryony GoochIf Your Party does not succeed, Britain will be taken over by “fascism” and people from ethnic minorities will be “imprisoned in tents”, Zarah Sultana has said.
The MP told the party’s founding conference: “If we don’t win this global fight, decay will give way to fascism and people who look like me will be imprisoned in tents and deported to war zones while everyone gets poorer except for the hedge fund managers who donate to Labour, the Conservatives and Reform.
“But if we win, if we win, we will hand over a world renewed for future generations.”
Ms Sultana calls for abolition of monarchy in Your Party founding conference speech
16:20 , Bryony GoochZarah Sultana issued calls to “abolish the monarchy” after branding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor a “parasite”.
Speaking at the Your Party founding conference, she said: “The same people who run Britain want you to believe that every refugee is a rapist while they grab £12 million of taxpayers’ money to protect a parasite called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.”
She added: “What a sick society we live in, where our political and media class bend over backwards for the royal family, including Prince Andrew, close friends with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“That’s our money that provided him housing, that’s our money that defended him in court, that’s our money that put food on his table. Well, not any more.
“We shouldn’t just abolish Andrew’s titles. We should abolish the monarchy itself.”
Rachel Reeves denies lying about Budget black hole to justify £26bn tax hikes
16:00 , Bryony Gooch
Rachel Reeves denies lying about Budget black hole to justify £26bn tax hikes
Recap: Rachel Reeves ‘uncomfortable’ listening to Kemi Badenoch’s Budget response
15:40 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said she was “uncomfortable” listening to Kemi Badenoch’s response to the Budget, in which the Conservative leader mocked and impersonated the Chancellor.
Mrs Badenoch has defended her comments and said her “job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor”.
During her Budget response in the Commons on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch called Ms Reeves “spineless, shameless and completely aimless”, adding: “Let me explain to the Chancellor, woman to woman: people out there aren’t complaining because she’s female, they’re complaining because she is utterly incompetent.”
As Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves exchanged words on the front bench, the Tory leader asked: “Is he mansplaining to you, by the way?”
Ms Sultana claims some 'hiccups' in Your Party founding were her 'fault'
15:20 , Bryony GoochZarah Sultana apologised for “hiccups” in the foundation of Your Party, saying some of it was her “fault”.
She told the Your Party conference: “You may have noticed that the process of stating up this party has had some hiccups.
“Some of that is my fault, and for that I am sorry.
“But I want you to know that my aim from the very start has been to ensure that this party is led by you, the members, and not MPs.”
She added: “We have to get better at working with each other.
“We have to ensure that the best cure against any culture of backroom deals is people power and that’s why I’ve been fighting for maximum member democracy.”
Comment: The revolution will not be organised: Your Party farce on day one
15:00 , Bryony GoochA dour, droning speech from Jeremy Corbyn was the least of Your Party’s worries on day one of their Liverpool conference, writes Kat Brown. It will go down in history as a parody of car-crash politics.
Read more here:
The revolution will not be organised: Your Party descends into farce on day one
Setback for Jeremy Corbyn as Your Party opts for collective leadership
14:45 , Bryony GoochJeremy Corbyn suffered a setback on Sunday as his new party’s founding conference rejected his preferred leadership set-up.
Members of the new Your Party voted narrowly against having a single elected leader, opting instead for a collective model that put a committee of members in charge.
Mr Corbyn, the former Labour leader, had previously said he backed the “sole leader” model and would stand for the position.
The collective model had been supported by Mr Corbyn’s rival, former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, after her preferred “co-leadership” plan had been blocked from consideration by members.
Watch: What does the public think of Labour’s Budget?
14:30 , Bryony GoochRecap: £4bn headroom would have been lowest any chancellor had secured against fiscal rules, says Reeves
14:15 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said that the £4 billion headroom reported by the Office of Budget Responsibility would have been the lowest headroom any chancellor had secured against their fiscal rules.
It also did not take into account decisions such as the U-turn on cutting winter fuel payments or welfare reform, or the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, expected to take 450,000 children out of poverty.
She told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show: “If I was on this programme today and I said I’ve got a £4.2 billion surplus, you would have said, and rightly so, ‘that is not enough, Chancellor’.”
She added: “In the context of a downgrade in our productivity, which cost £16 billion, I needed to increase taxes, and I was honest and frank about that in the speech that I gave at beginning of November.”
OBR investigation into Budget leak will report on Monday
14:00 , Bryony GoochThe investigation into the unprecedented leak of last week’s Budget will report on Monday, the Chancellor has said.
Details of Wednesday’s Budget were mistakenly released to the public almost an hour early when official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) were uploaded to the watchdog’s website.
The OBR apologised for the leak and immediately launched an investigation, with expert input from Professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Despite Prof Martin’s involvement, the OBR has said there is no reason to suspect a cyber attack.
Recap: Tories and SNP call on City watchdog to look into 'misleading' Budget comments
13:45 , Bryony GoochTory shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has reportedly written to the FCA urging it to look into “possible market abuse” arising from “misleading” comments and “the repeated disclosure of market-sensitive details of Budget decisions and the official forecasts”.
The leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, also called on the City watchdog to launch an “immediate investigation into the accusations of false and deeply misleading Budget briefings”, questioning whether Ms Reeves’s November 4 speech amounted to “market manipulation”.
Recap: What is Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – and how has it changed?
13:30 , Bryony GoochWhat is Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – and how has it changed?
Watch: Defiant Rachel Reeves says she will be Chancellor for years
13:15 , Bryony GoochPolitics Explained: Has Bridget Phillipson’s schools budget been trashed to pay for special needs?
12:59 , Bryony GoochThe Office for Budget Responsibility says mainstream school spending will fall as the bill for SEND rises – the education secretary says this is ‘misleading’. John Rentoul adjudicates.
Read more here:
Has Bridget Phillipson’s schools budget been trashed to pay for special needs?
Awkward moment Reeves shown interview saying she wouldn’t raise taxes in Budget
12:45 , Bryony Gooch
Awkward moment Reeves shown resurfaced interview saying she wouldn’t raise taxes
Recap: Reeves was 'uncomfortable' with Badenoch response to Budget
12:30 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves said she had been “uncomfortable” listening to Kemi Badenoch’s response to the Budget, in which the Conservative leader mocked and impersonated the Chancellor.
Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t like that sort of stuff. I don’t do it. I try to concentrate on policies rather than personalities.
“I would just say that Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss’s budget, she said was 100 per cent right, so I’m not totally sure whether her judgment chimes with the British public.
“But as a politician, I have always tried to focus on the issues and not the personalities. It’s just not the sort of politics that I do.
“So, yes, I was a bit uncomfortable listening to that, because it’s not really the way that I behave, but people are entitled to deliver the Budget response that they want and she focused on personalities.
“I would have preferred to hear Kemi Badenoch set out her alternative economic proposals. We haven’t heard that.”
Analysis: Rachel Reeves is misleading people about her Budget choices – and Starmer could fall with her
12:15 , Bryony GoochWarning Reeves’ landlord tax will push up rent prices and cut supply
12:00 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves’ new landlord tax will cause the rental market to “dry up” and push record-high rents even higher, a leading figure in the property market has warned.
In a stark warning to the chancellor, Simon Gammon, the founder and managing director of mortgage brokers Knight Frank Finance, said her Budget decision to hike tax on landlords’ rental incomes by 2 per cent will be the “last straw” for many, forcing them to sell up.
David Maddox, Political Editor reports:
Warning Reeves’ landlord tax will push up rents and ‘dry up’ housing supply
Keir Starmer to back Rachel Reeves’ Budget amid row over deficit claims
11:45 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves is facing intense scrutiny over allegations she misled voters regarding the UK’s fiscal health, following revelations from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The controversy stems from pre-Budget speculation suggesting a £20 billion gap in meeting fiscal rules, partly due to downgraded productivity forecasts.
Read more here:
Zarah Sultana welcomes collective leadership model in Your Party
11:30 , Bryony GoochZarah Sultana welcomed the Your Party conference’s decision to choose a collective leadership model over a single leader.
The former Labour MP had backed collective leadership after her preference for a co-leadership model was not put to members for a vote.
She said: “I have fought for maximum member democracy since day one. Seeing members choose collective leadership is truly exciting.
“Together, we’re building a new socialist party – radically democratic and powered by a mass movement.
“This party will be led by its members, not MPs. This is only the beginning.”
Your Party to be led by members rather than a leader
11:15 , Bryony GoochYour Party’s founding conference has voted to be led by its members, rather than an individual leader.
The conference voted 51.6 per cent in favour of being led by a committee of members.
In a separate vote, the conference agreed to allow members of other parties to join Your Party where they were found to “align with the party’s values”.
It follows a row over the expulsion of a number of members on the eve of the conference on the grounds they were also members of the Socialist Workers Party.
A Your Party spokesperson said: “This vote shows that we really are doing politics differently: from the bottom-up, not the top-down.
“In Westminster we have a professional political class increasingly disconnected from ordinary people, serving corporations and billionaires instead of the communities they are supposed to represent.
“With a truly member-led party, we will offer something different: democratic, grassroots, accountable.”
Breaking: Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana won’t be leaders of Your Party after member vote
11:01 , Bryony GoochJeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana cannot run to lead the new left-wing party they founded after members voted that a ‘collective’ headed by a non-MP should make major decisions about its future.
A second option, for a traditional single leader, which would have seen Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana battle it out to head Your Party, was also rejected by members.
Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall Editor reports here:
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana won’t be leaders of Your Party after member vote
Recap of Rachel Reeves' post-Budget weekend roundup
11:00 , Bryony GoochHere were the key points made by the Chancellor as Rachel Reeves spoke to Trevor Phillips and Laura Kuenssberg this morning:
- “I could have cut public services, I chose not to,” she told Laura Kuenssberg.
- “We didn't break the manifesto. We haven't broken the manifesto because that's explicitly said about the rates. But are you asking, am I asking working people to pay a bit more? Yes, I am.”
- “The £4 billion surplus was not enough,” she told Trevor Phillips in response to news the OBR had said she had a £4bn headroom.
- “One of the things I did in the budget was lift 450,000 children out of poverty. That was funded through cracking down on tax avoidance, more measures in the budget and introducing a gambling tax.”
- “Because of the measures that I took in the budget, inflation is going to be 0.4 percentage points lower next year than they originally forecast because of our cost of living measures to reduce inflation, and so I needed to address [that] as well.”
Watch: Rachel Reeves denies lying about Budget black hole to justify tax hikes
11:00 , Bryony GoochBadenoch defends 'personal' attack on Rachel Reeves on Budget day
10:50 , Bryony GoochConservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended her response to the Budget and said her “job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor”.
Asked whether she went too far in her response to the Budget and criticisms of Rachel Reeves, Ms Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I remember last year’s Budget – Rachel Reeves took a swipe at me, I wasn’t even Leader of the Opposition then – she’s forgotten now.
“I remember when Rachel Reeves was out there calling Rishi Sunak a liar. I remember when they were all calling Liz Truss a lettuce.
“But now it’s them and I’m merely talking about her competence. They can’t take it. They like to dish it, but they can’t take it.
“My job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor and the people out there wanted someone to tell her she was doing a bad job, and I had to make sure that I got that message across.”
Ms Badenoch added: “I don’t care whether people misbehave at the despatch box. What I care about is whether or not I’m doing a good job.
“She should care about whether or not she’s doing a good job – she’s doing a terrible job.”
Recap: Two-child benefit cap scrapped – here’s what that will mean for parents
10:40 , Bryony GoochAs Rachel Reeves continued to defend the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap scrap in her Sunday morning post-budget roundup, here Albert Toth looks at just what the policy change will mean for families across the UK.
Read more here:
Budget 2025: Two-child benefit cap scrapped – here’s what that will mean for parents
Iain Duncan Smith calls on government to make 'tough choices'
10:30 , Bryony GoochSir Iain Duncan Smith MP, former Conservative leader and Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), has called on the government to stop “pouring money into benefits” in response to the budget as part of his think tank’s latest analysis.
“Good politics is about tough choices. Hiking taxes on working people to pay for £16 billion in extra welfare spending is a bad choice. After all, taking money from those who work hard to give to those who work not, is bad economics and bad politics.
“Pouring money into benefits is not the same as tackling the root causes of poverty. Children growing up without a parent in a job are four times as likely to be materially deprived.
“Work is not just a job but the key to a positive life one of hope and aspiration. We must want people to make that choice and be rewarded for doing so.
“Getting welfare spending under control is critical. We must make work pay and as this government loses control of a ballooning welfare budget it will ensure work does not pay.
“Bringing an end to the crisis of worklessness is the only way to transform life chances for good and restore consent for a functional welfare system, not one that is clearly now running out of control and eating up hard working taxpayers’ money.”
Recap: Reeves says NHS nurses told her to lift children out of poverty
10:20 , Bryony GoochChancellor Rachel Reeves reflected on a visit to a hospital on Wednesday afternoon with the Prime Minister where nurses said the way to help the NHS was to lift children out of poverty.
“[Sir Keir] and I were in our hospital on Wednesday afternoon talking to nurses. One of the nurses said one of the best things you can do for our national health service is to lift kids out of poverty, because we have kids coming in to A&E coming in admitted to hospital because of respiratory problems and other problems associated with poverty.”
Badenoch makes further calls for Reeves to resign
10:10 , Bryony GoochConservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was “raising taxes to pay for welfare” in the Budget and “should resign”.
Mrs Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The Chancellor called an emergency press conference telling everyone about how terrible the state of the finances were and now we have seen that the OBR had told her the complete opposite.
“She was raising taxes to pay for welfare.
“The only thing that was unfunded was the welfare payments which she has made and she’s doing it on the backs of a lot of people out there who are working very hard and getting poorer.
“And because of that, I believe she should resign.”
Ms Badenoch added: “The shadow chancellor Mel Stride has written to the FCA.
“Hopefully there will be an investigation, because it looks like what she was doing was trying to pitch-roll her budget – tell everyone how awful it would be and then they wouldn’t be as upset when she finally announced it – and still sneak in those tax rises to pay for welfare.
“That’s not how we should be running this process. We need people to have confidence in our system, in what the Chancellor is going to announce.”
In pictures: Rachel Reeves takes on the Sunday morning news roundup
10:06 , Bryony Gooch
Analysis: Reeves hits out at the IFS as she insisted there was an economic ‘repair job’ to be done despite £4bn surplus
09:57 , Bryony GoochAnalysis provided by Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall Editor.
The chancellor has hit back at the UK’s most highly respected economic think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), after it said on Thursday that better than expected figures meant Ms Reeves had not been given “much of a fiscal repair job” to do at the Budget.
Ms Reeves had been told she had a surplus of £4bn in the nation’s finances at the end of October.
She told the BBC this morning: “I know that some people are suggesting that there was a small surplus… but if I was on this programme today and I was saying a £4bn surplus is fine, there was no economic repair job to be done, I think you would rightly be saying that's not good enough.
“That would have been the lowest surplus that any chancellor ever delivered against their fiscal rules. I was clear that I wanted to build up that resilience (in the economy)”.
‘Reeves’s Budget has made things worse – I won’t vote Labour again’
09:55 , Bryony GoochLabour will need the Budget to go down well with swing voters in areas such as Sheerness and Kensington if the party is to stand a chance of holding onto power at the next general election. Dan Haygarth and Hebe Campbell spoke to locals to see if they were convinced.
Read more here:
‘Reeves’s Budget has made things even worse - I won’t vote for Labour again’
Watch: Rachel Reeves responds to Kemi Badenoch's 'misogyny and mansplaining' Budget attack
09:50 , Bryony GoochAnalysis: Reeves denies her Budget was for Labour MPs not the country – as she says she will be chancellor for years to come
09:48 , Bryony GoochAnalysis provided by Kate Devlin, The Independent’s Whitehall Editor.
This Budget was seen as make-or-break for the chancellor’s political career, as she and Keir Starmer came under intense pressure from Labour MPs.
This morning she denied hers had been a Budget for Labour MPs, many of whom have backed its measures, rather than the country, telling the BBC: “I don’t accept that at all.”
Pressed on her future, she also said “yes” when asked if she would be the chancellor for years to come, talking of how she had been consistently underestimated throughout her career.
Badenoch says Tories would reverse scrapping of two-child benefit cap
09:42 , Bryony GoochConservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party would reverse the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.
Mrs Badenoch told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “This is not about the value of children.
“This is about government making sure that we live within our means. The Government’s job is to draw a line where it is responsible.
“The responsible place is to have a two-child benefit cap on the element of Universal Credit.
“It is immoral to saddle the next generation and children who are not yet born with debt so that people alive today can be a little bit more comfortable.”
Asked if the Conservatives would reverse the scrapping of the cap, Ms Badenoch said: “We would put that cap back.
“Somebody has to draw the line somewhere and we are the only party saying this – Labour, Lib Dems, Reform, SNP, Green, Plaid – they all want more benefits.
“Only the Conservatives are saying this is getting out of hand.”
Watch: Rachel Reeves denies lying about Budget black hole to justify tax hikes
09:37 , Bryony GoochReeves affirms she will remain chancellor for years to come
09:37 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has affirmed that she will remain chancellor for years to come.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, she said: “Yes, I am sure, and I am determined. I was an MP in opposition for 14 and a half years. I have been underestimated all the way through my life.
“As a young girl from an ordinary background, people made assumptions about me, and I've defied them before, and I will defy my critics again. I'm proud of my budget this week. I'm proud that I'm taking money off of energy bills.”
“[I’m] proud that I'm reducing NHS waiting lists, proud that I'm cutting child poverty, and proud that I put our public finances on a sustainable footage, 26 billion pounds.”
Rachel Reeves says 'I concentrate on policies rather than personalities'
09:35 , Bryony GoochThe chancellor responded to personal comments from Kemi Badenoch in which the leader of the opposition called her the worst chancellor in history.
“I don't like that sort of stuff. I don't do it,” Ms Reeves said. “I try and concentrate on policies rather than personalities. I would just say that Quasi Quarteng and Liz Truss's budget she said was 100 per cent right.
“So I'm not totally sure whether her judgment chimes with the British public, but as a politician, I have always tried to focus on the issues and not the personalities. It's just not the sort of politics that I do.
“So yes, I was a bit uncomfortable listening to that, because it's not really the way that I behave, but people you know are entitled to deliver the budget response that they want.”
Chancellor says she doesn't think there should be investigation into pre-Budget comments
09:33 , Bryony GoochThe Chancellor said she did not think there should be an investigation into her pre-Budget comments.
She said: “I don’t think that that is necessary. The Office of Budget Responsibility have published their numbers.”
She added: “I’ve now delivered the Budget. That Budget is consistent with a speech that I made at the beginning of November to cut the cost of living, to cut NHS waiting lists, to cut the debt and the deficit.
“I said in that speech that everyone would need to contribute, but I kept that contribution as low as possible by asking those with broadest shoulders.”
Reeves answers whether Labour voters can trust her
09:31 , Bryony GoochResponding to questions about whether Labour voters could trust her, Rachel Reeves said that she stood by her promise during the campaign that she could be trusted with the public finances.
She said: “I said during the election campaign that you can always trust me with the public finances, that the numbers will always add up. We went through huge turbulence the last few years in our economy, interest rates going through the roof, inflation in double digits, pensions put in peril.
“What I've done since I've became chancellor has enabled the Bank of England to cut interest rates five times. I've now doubled the fiscal headroom against our rules, and yes, I have asked people to contribute a bit more.
“I recognise I did not say that in the manifesto, but since then, we have had both a significant downgrade in the productivity forecast, but also huge global turbulence from higher tariffs, disruptions to supply chains, increased pressure on defence spending and conflicts around the world.”
'Growth is number one priority of this government'
09:27 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said that growth remains the number one priority of the Labour government when faced with questions from Laura Kuenssberg about how economic growth is lower than expected.
“Growth is the number one priority of this government, because without growth, you can't sustainably lift living standards or have the money to invest in public services.”
Watch: Rachel Reeves denies lying about Budget black hole to justify tax hikes
09:25 , Bryony GoochReeves says 'too many children in this country growing up in poverty'
09:25 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has justified her decision to lift the two child benefit cap following a visit to a hospital on Wednesday where NHS nurses affirmed the importance of lifting children out of poverty.
“Laura, I made that choice because today there are too many children in this country, one of the richest countries in the world, growing up in poverty,” she told Laura Kuenssberg. “That means that there are children going to bed hungry, waking up in cold and damp homes, often in BnBs or temporary accommodation, a shelter.
“I don't want that for our children. And there is a cost, of course, to that child. There's also a wider cost to our economy.
“[Sir Keir] and I were in our hospital on Wednesday afternoon talking to nurses. One of the nurses said one of the best things you can do for our national health service is to lift kids out of poverty, because we have kids coming in to a and e coming in admitted to hospital because of respiratory problems and other problems associated with poverty.
“So there is a wider cost to society from allowing kids to grow up in poverty. And I'm not willing as chancellor to preside over a system where we have got so many kids, unavoidably growing up, sorry, avoidably growing up in poverty.”
'I could have cut public services, I chose not to'
09:20 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said she chose not to cut public services when she asked the public to pay a bit more in tax.
“I could have cut public services, I chose not to,” she told Laura Kuenssberg. “Instead, I've asked people to pay a bit more in tax to fund those public services. That is my choice, and I'm happy to defend those twists.”
Reeves says Labour hasn't broken manifesto but she is asking working people to pay a bit more
09:19 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said Labour hasn’t broken their manifesto but she is asking working people to pay a bit more.
She told Laura Kuenssberg: “We didn't break the manifesto. We haven't broken the manifesto because that's explicitly said about the rates.
“But are you asking, am I asking working people to pay a bit more? Yes, I am asking working people and honest about that.
“The Conservatives did it by sort of trying to sweep it under the carpet. I don't want to be that sort of Chancellor.”
Reeves continues to deny she lied as she insists she needed more headroom
09:16 , Bryony GoochSpeaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Rachel Reeves is continuing to insist she didn’t lie as she said she needed more headroom than the £4 billion suggested by the Office of Budget Responsibility.
“In the spring, I had headroom of 9.9 billion pounds. The OBR numbers show that it moved around, but in their final pre measures forecast, it was 4.2 billion pounds. I clearly could not deliver a budget with just 4.2 billion pounds.”
Reeves appears on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
09:08 , Bryony GoochThe Chancellor will now speak to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC’s flagship Sunday show.
Stay tuned for top lines coming in live.
Watch: Awkward moment Reeves shown previous interview saying she wouldn't raise taxes in Budget
09:05 , Bryony GoochOBR to report to Chancellor on Monday
09:04 , Bryony GoochThe Office for Budget Responsibility’s investigation into the leak of its economic forecasts is expected to report to the Chancellor on Monday.
Rachel Reeves told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “We will get a report tomorrow, the report that looks at what happened about that Budget leak.
“It was clearly serious. It was clearly a serious breach of the protocol, but I’ll see that report tomorrow.”
She added that she had “a huge amount of respect” for the OBR and its chairman, Richard Hughes.
Analysis: Rachel Reeves claims she was ‘very clear’ in Budget speech in which she did not mention £4bn surplus in the nation’s finances – but she has to convince the markets
09:02 , Bryony GoochKate Devlin, our Whitehall editor, offers analysis of Rachel Reeves interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News:
The chancellor came out this morning to try to defend herself against accusations she misled the public on the state of the country’s finances to justify £26bn worth of tax hikes in her Budget.
Earlier this month she told the BBC it would be “possible” for ministers to stick with their election pledges, which included not to raise taxes on working people, but warned that doing so would mean “deep cuts” in other areas of spending.
And in an extraordinary speech on 4 November, she signalled higher taxes were likely, blaming Donald Trump’s tariff war and the Budget watchdog’s expected downgrade of economic productivity for the “hard choices” she would be forced to make.
However, it has since emerged that at the time she knew she had a £4bn surplus in the nation’s finances.
Speaking on Sky News this morning Ms Reeves claimed she was ”very clear in that speech”.
The markets reacted to that speech. And they reacted again days later when it emerged that she would not raise income tax after all.If the markets, and the public, are not convinced by her argument, Ms Reeves is in serious trouble.
Reeves defends OBR as she's set to receive report on budget leak on Monday
09:00 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves defended the Office of Budget Responsibility despite the leak that led details of her budget to be leaked 45 minutes earlier.
“Look there is no one as a bigger supporter of the Office of Budget Responsibility than me. I reappointed Richard Hughes in the summer. We've strengthened the powers of the OBR.”
She added that they would receive a report about what happened during the budget leak, which she described as a serious breach.
“We will get a report tomorrow, the report that looks at what happens about that budget leak. It was clearly serious. It was clearly a serious breach of but I'll see that. I'll see that report for his position safe, but I'll see that report tomorrow. But I've got a huge amount of respect, both for Richard and for the Office of Budget Responsibility, but I'll get that report tomorrow.”
Badenoch had no 'economic argument' to budget despite leak, Reeves says
08:58 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said that Kemi Badenoch’s ‘personal’ attacks of her do not bother her because she didn’t bring an economic argument in her response to the budget.
The Chancellor told Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “There was a leak of the budget document 45 minutes before I stood up to deliver my speech, one of my worries is that the opposition had all that time to go through all of the documents, something which you do not usually have the luxury of.
“And I've had to respond to [budgets] before as a shadow Chancellor, and so I was concerned that there would be a forensic analysis on the floor, which you wouldn't usually have, but there wasn't any of that.
“There wasn't an economic argument in Kemi Badenoch response to my budget. And so if she wants to resort to personal attack, that's fine, that's her choice.”
Reeves says she was 'choosing children'
08:55 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has claimed she was choosing children, rather than thinking about party politics or public opinion, when she ended the two-child benefit cap.
“I was choosing children, Trevor,” the Chancellor said in the grilling on Sky News. “This lifts more than half a million children out of poverty, combined with our changes on free breakfast clubs, extending free school meals, 30 hours free childcare for working parents with preschool age children.
“You can put up those percentages, but the people I was thinking about were kids who I know in my constituency would go to school hungry and go to bed in cold and damp homes, and from April next year, those parents will Have a bit more support to help their kids. “
Reeves denies lying about shortfall
08:50 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said “of course, I didn't” lie after asked whether she lied to the public ahead of her budget.
Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, she said:“Look, I'm a Labour Chancellor. I want to reduce child poverty. I make no apologies for that. This will be the biggest ever reduction in child poverty in a parliament ever, and I'm proud to be the chancellor that lifts half a million kids out of poverty.
“That means kids not going to bed hungry. It means kids not waking up in cold and damp homes. And I am proud, and I'm very happy.”
Inflation to be 0.4 per cent lower next year, claims Reeves
08:47 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves claims her budget will reduce inflation next year.
“Because of the measures that I took in the budget, inflation is going to be 0.4 percentage points lower next year than they originally forecast because of our cost of living measures to reduce inflation, and so I needed to address [that] as well.
Reeves says the budget lifted 450,000 children out of poverty
08:45 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves has said that the budget lifted 450,000 children out of poverty through her “fully costed and fully funded” budget.
“Well, one of the things I did in the budget was lift 450,000 children out of poverty. That was funded through cracking down on tax avoidance, more measures in the budget and introducing a gambling tax.
“I always said that to reduce child poverty, it had to be fully costed and fully funded. So the gambling tax and cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion was used to reduce child poverty.
“That was the right. I'm very happy to defend my choices on the cost of living, reducing child poverty, reducing NHS waiting lists, and building that financial resilience into our numbers.”
Reeves explains why she went ahead with cuts
08:42 , Bryony GoochRachel Reeves says that the £4bn headroom the Office of Budget Responsibility said she would have would not have been enough, which is why she decided to make cuts in the budget.
“The four, just over 4 billion pounds surplus was not enough. I said in that speech that I wanted to achieve three things in the budget, tackling the cost of living, which is why I took 150 pounds off of energy bills and froze prescription charges and rail affairs.
“I wanted to continue to cut NHS waiting lists, which is why I protected NHS spending, and I wanted to bring the debt and the borrowing, which is one of the reasons why I increased the headroom 4 billion pounds, the headroom would not have been enough and it would not continue to cut interest rates.”
Rachel Reeves speaks live on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips
08:39 , Bryony GoochWe’ll bring you the top lines from Rachel Reeves’ interviews this morning.
Stay tuned.
Pictured: Rachel Reeves appears on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips
08:36 , Bryony Gooch
