Chancellor confirms date of the next Budget
Rachel Reeves has revealed when she will deliver her Autumn Budget
Rachel Reeves has announced that she will present her autumn Budget on Wednesday 26th November.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will be given the required 10 weeks’ notice to provide an independent forecast.
The Chancellor will seek to prioritise reducing inflation, keeping public spending under control by meeting her fiscal rules and kick-starting economic growth, it is understood.
She is expected to make a series of public announcements on productivity before the Budget.
The Chancellor is under increasing pressure as Britain’s long-term borrowing costs continued to surge higher on Wednesday, hitting fresh 27-year highs, while the pound also remained under pressure.
Worries are mounting over the UK’s finances before the Budget, with concerns that Ms Reeves will be forced to hike taxes and slash spending to balance the books.
The scale of the challenge facing the Chancellor was illustrated by the NIESR economic think tank saying last month that Ms Reeves was set for a £41 billion shortfall on her self-imposed rule of balancing day-to-day spending with tax receipts in 2029-30.
Analysts have put the weakness in the UK bond market down to a reaction to the Prime Minister’s reshuffle of his Downing Street team this week.
Sir Keir Starmer moved the Chancellor’s deputy, Darren Jones, into a new role as chief secretary to the Prime Minister, a change some have interpreted as a blow to Ms Reeves’ authority.
But No 10 on Tuesday insisted the Chancellor’s role had not been diminished, saying Sir Keir and Ms Reeves spoke “at length over the summer about how these changes would bolster their joint approach to the growth agenda”.