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Public sector pay and benefits spending has grown faster than private sector pay since Labour came to power - Adrian Dennis/Pool Photo via AP Benefits claimants and workers in the public sector have been “better off” since Labour came to office than staff employed by private firms, data show.
Public sector pay has grown at more than double the pace for workers in private businesses in real terms since the last General Election, according to figures from the stockbroker Peel Hunt.
It also showed social benefits spending has climbed by nearly 10pc in nominal terms, while private sector pay has climbed just over 5pc between June last year and September, covering the period since Labour’s victory in July.
Rachel Reeves has faced criticism for putting up taxes by £26bn in her second Budget to pay for measures like lifting the two child benefit cap, which will cost the taxpayer £3bn a year by the end of the decade.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: “Budgets are about values and the clear revealed preference under Labour is a bloated public sector and welfare recipients.
“The hard working people who pay for this all come a distant third.”
06:38pm
Signing off...
Thanks for joining us. That’s all we’ve got for today, but you can read The Telegraph’s latest business and economics news here.
UK stocks closed higher after virtually flatlining on Thursday. Over in the US, Wall Street was up for the fifth straight day on expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December.
Silver and copper both reached fresh highs after systems went down at the influential CME Group exchange, disturbing trading for hours.
06:20pm
Wall Street rises 5 days in a row
Wall Street was up for a fifth consecutive day in November’s final session on rising hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month.
The benchmark S&P 500 added 0.5% to a total of 6,849.09 by the closing bell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% to 47,716.42, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% to 90.92.
Story Continues06:06pm
Copper climbs to new record
Copper has set a fresh record after hours of disruptions to trading following systems going down at the CME Group exchange.
The metal jumped 2.5% on Friday, reaching a high of $11,210.50 a ton.
Its boost comes as supply of the commodity has tightened while demand has surged with the expansion of data centres and increased military spending.
Copper’s boost was also driven by comments made by Kostas Binta, the head of metals at Mercuria Energy Group, at a major industry summit in Shanghai.
“This is the big one,” he said in an interview. “If the world keeps going like this we will be left without copper cathodes in the rest of the world.”
05:49pm
Russia threatens ban on WhatsApp
Russia said it was considering a total ban on messaging platform WhatsApp, accusing it of failing to comply with the country’s law.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications watchdog, said the application was being used to “organise and carry out terrorist acts in the country, to recruit perpetrators, and for fraud and other crimes against our citizens.”
“If the messenger fails to comply with Russian legislation, it will be completely blocked,” it said.
In August, Moscow blocked WhatsApp users from accessing the service to make calls as part of a broader effort to curtail the usage of Western-owned social media.
05:37pm
FTSE closes higher
UK share prices closed higher after effectively flatlining on Thursday.
FTSE 100 climbed 0.3pc to 9,720.51 on gains in energy and mining stocks.
Mid-cap FTSE 250 rose over 0.3pc to 22,165.17, but was still down 1.42pc in the last month.
France’s Cac 40 added 0.3pc.
05:04pm
Global goods trade slows after tariff-driven import surge
Global goods trade slowed in the second half of 2025 as the surge seen earlier in the year driven by the front-loading of imports ahead of US tariffs seems to have ended.
The World Trade Organisation’s goods trade barometer, which predicts trade developments two to three months in advance, fell to 101.8 for the month of September from 102.2 in June.
Although the barometer still remains above the baseline value of 100, the WTO said trade volume is likely to grow at a slower rate in the fourth quarter.
For the first half of 2025, merchandise trade was up more than expected at 4.9% growth year-on-year. But for the last two quarters, higher tariffs and lingering trade policy uncertainty are predicted to hit growth.
04:40pm
UK talks to join EU rearmament fund collapse
Negotiations for the UK to join a £130bn rearmament programme have failed after ministers rejected to contribute billions in costs.
Under the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) scheme, British arms firms, like BAE Systems, would be able to bid for contracts worth up to 50pc of the EU’s industry war chest.
The Telegraph previously heard that the bloc would demand up to €6bn from London to participate in the defence fund.
Minister for European Union relations Nick Thomas-Symonds said the collapse in talks was “disappointing” but the UK was focused on guaranteeing “value for money”.
The Cabinet Office said British firms would still be able to engage in the scheme “on third country terms.”
03:36pm
HMRC to punish savers who dodge cash Isa crackdown
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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will penalise savers who put cash in stocks and shares to escape Labour’s cash Isa crackdown.
Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday that the cash Isa limit would be cut to £12,000 for under-65s in an effort to boost investment in UK stocks and shares.
But the tax authority today said savers who place cash in a stocks and shares Isa, or who invest in “cash-like” investments, such as money market funds, will face a charge under new legislation from April 6 2027.
Transfers from an innovative finance Isa into a cash Isa will also be banned under the new rules.
03:10pm
Reeves accused of lying to justify tax raid
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Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to sack Rachel Reeves after she “lied” to justify her Budget tax raid.
Kemi Badenoch has called for the Chancellor to lose her job after it emerged she never faced a £30bn black hole in the run-up to the Budget.
In a press conference on Nov 4, Ms Reeves strongly suggested that she would be forced to raise income tax to help repair Britain’s finances.
She hinted that she was dealing with challenging economic forecasts by saying everyone would have to do their bit to balance the books. It followed weeks of briefings that suggested the Treasury was facing a £30bn shortfall in the public finances.
Rachel Reeves had suggested she would be forced to raise income tax ahead of the Budget - House of Commons/AFP via Getty Images 03:00pm
Silver hits a fresh record on rate cut hopes
Silver hit a fresh record, surpassing prices reached during a historic short squeeze in October.
The white metal rose by 3.4pc to $55.01 per ounce on increased hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December, continued supply tightness and increased inflows into gold-backed exchange traded funds.
Its new milestone was also set hours after systems went down at the influential CME Group exchange, causing widespread disruptions to trading, which has since started to resume.
02:44pm
Wall Street rises at the opening bell after trading outage
Across the Pond, US stocks opened higher on what will be a subdued day of trading as many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2pc to 47,525.90 hours after pre-market trading was disrupted by systems going down at the influential CME Group exchange. Trading has since resumed.
The benchmark S&P 500 was up 0.2pc to 6,825.54 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increased 0.3pc to 23,275.97.
02:04pm
Whitbread plunges as it faces £50m Budget blow
The owner of Premier Inn said it is “extremely disappointed” with the outcome of the Budget as it will face up to £50m in additional costs.
Hospitality group Whitbread tumbled to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after bosses said they anticipate significant increases in business rates for many of its hotels.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced changes to how business rates will be calculated from next year.
Shares were down 8pc as Whitbread chief executive Dominic Paul said the Budget “will have a significant impact on our business and the wider hospitality industry.”
He added, however, that the group is “well placed” to handle the potential impact, promising to cut costs by between £40m and £50m.
01:31pm
UK stocks rise after Budget headroom expanded to £22bn
The FTSE 100 edged higher as the Budget appeared to put the public finances on a stable footing in the short term.
The UK’s blue-chip index was up 0.2pc, while the domestically focused FTSE 250 was flat.
Both indexes are on track for weekly gains after Rachel Reeves announced a big tax-raising budget that created greater headroom for her to meet her deficit-reduction targets without being rocked by markets.
Meanwhile, traders also increased bets on the Bank of England and US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Trading is thin with most US investors away for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was also hit by an outage at the world’s biggest exchange operator, CME Group, which hit trading on currency and futures in the US.
12:48pm
Benefits claimants and public sector workers best off under Labour
Benefits claimants and workers in the public sector have been “better off” since Labour came to office than staff employed by private firms, data show.
Public sector pay has grown at more than double the pace for workers in private businesses in real terms since the last General Election, according to figures from the stockbroker Peel Hunt.
It also showed social benefits spending has climbed by nearly 10pc in nominal terms, while private sector pay has climbed just over 5pc between June last year and September, covering the period since Labour’s victory in July.
Rachel Reeves has faced criticism for putting up taxes by £26bn in her second Budget to pay for measures like lifting the two child benefit cap, which will cost the taxpayer £3bn a year by the end of the decade.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: “Budgets are about values and the clear revealed preference under Labour is a bloated public sector and welfare recipients.
“The hard working people who pay for this all come a distant third.”
12:19pm
State pensions to be shielded from Reeves’s tax rises
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State pensioners are to be exempted from the Government’s income tax raid, Rachel Reeves has said.
From April 2027, anyone earning the full new state pension will receive more than £12,570 – taking them above the income tax threshold. The levy is in the middle of a nine-year long freeze.
That is because the pension rises by the triple lock – increasing by the highest of inflation, average wages or 2.5pc each year – but the income tax threshold is in the middle of a nine-year long freeze.
Rachel Reeves has said affected pensioners will not have to pay any income tax at all - Kirsty O'Connor/Treasury 11:29am
‘Back-loading’ tax rises undermines Budget, warns bond trader
Rachel Reeves “undermined” the credibility of her own Budget with markets after she ramped up welfare spending and “back-loaded” tax rises, a former chief of staff to George Osborne said.
Rupert Harrison, an adviser at bond trader Pimco, said the Chancellor had asked markets to “to trust her commitment to be fiscally prudent in the future – just not yet”.
He said forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on how she would balance the books “imply a significant real-terms reduction in the schools budget in 2028”.
This would be coupled with a 3.3pc real-terms fall in spending outside the key protected areas of health and defence in the two years to 2030.
He said: “The notion that a Labour Government would go into the next election with such a spending profile has raised some eyebrows to say the least.”
He added: “The Budget has therefore heightened medium-term concerns about the Government’s ability to control spending and deliver the deficit reduction path set out in the OBR forecasts.
“By increasing spending now and back-loading the tax rises and spending restraint needed to hit the fiscal rules in 2029, the Chancellor is asking markets to trust her commitment to be fiscally prudent in the future – just not yet.”
11:02am
Union urges Starmer to reverse workers’ rights U-turn
A transport union affiliated to Labour has urged Sir Keir Starmer to reverse his decision to scrap a flagship part of Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights legislation.
The TSSA urged the Government to reinstate its plans to give workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from day one in the job.
The union said Labour had broken a manifesto pledge with the change, which means staff will have a right to take employers to a tribunal for unfair dismissal after six months, down from the current timescale of two years.
Bosses and cross-party peers had warned bringing in the rights on the first day of employment could dissuade companies from taking on new staff.
TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “This is a very significant watering down of the Employment Rights Bill and a breach of Labour’s manifesto commitment – one we do not support.
“Our union has long campaigned for strong, meaningful rights from the first day of employment, arguing that day one protection is essential to safeguard workers from arbitrary and unjust treatment.
“This remains our position and it’s vital that the government thinks again about this damaging u-turn.
“What we need to see now is a period of proper consultation of trade union members across the movement where there is affiliation to Labour, because these are the people at the sharp end.”
10:40am
Pound falls as hedge fund raises doubts about tax revenues
The value of the pound edged lower as a hedge fund boss suggested the Treasury may not raise more revenues by putting up taxes.
Sterling was down 0.2pc versus the dollar at $1.321 and was little changed against the euro at €1.142 after the Budget cemented bets on an interest rate cut next month.
Traders are betting there is a 90pc chance that the Bank of England will lower borrowing costs in December after Rachel Reeves set out plans to temper inflation in the short term by reducing energy bills and freezing fuel duty.
Meanwhile, a hedge fund manager said the pound is likely to fall further as the Chancellor nears a “tipping point” where taxes stop raising extra revenue for the Treasury.
Stephen Jen, chief executive of London-based Eurizon SLJ Capital, expects sterling to fall against the euro, yen and Swiss franc as tax rises deter wealthy investors and businesses from operating in Britain.
“If we see these tax increases actually collect less total tax intake, then we’ll have a problem because all these calculations are modelled on certain assumptions about people staying put and people not just leaving,” Mr Jen told Bloomberg.
“If you have the tax base that disappears, of course your calculations will be off. So we’ll have to see what happens in the next two, three years.”
10:16am
Trading on US exchange halted after data centre blackout
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Markets remain quite subdued in the wake of the Budget, with much less trading than usual as a result of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.
But trading has been disrupted even more after rhe world’s largest financial exchange was forced to halt trading due to a fault at one of its data centres
Investors were “flying blind”, threatening wild price swings, after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) confirmed trading had been suspended at 2.44am on Friday morning, blaming a problem with one of its data centres.
CME is the world’s largest derivatives exchange – offering trading on financial products including currencies, government bonds, energy, metals, futures, options and cryptocurrencies.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has blamed a problem with one of its data centres as the reason for the shutdown - Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg 09:59am
Starmer faces growing workers’ rights backlash led by Rayner ally
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Sir Keir Starmer is facing a growing Labour backlash led by an ally of Angela Rayner after the Prime Minister tore up a central pledge in the workers’ rights bill.
At least a dozen Labour MPs have attacked the Government after it announced on Thursday that it had abandoned plans to allow employees to sue for unfair dismissal from day one of their employment.
That right had been championed by Ms Rayner, who was Sir Keir’s deputy until her resignation in September following a Telegraph investigation that exposed her tax affairs.
Sir Keir Starmer tore up a central pledge in the workers’ rights bill championed by his former deputy Angela Rayner - Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images 09:37am
Badenoch accuses Reeves damaging feminism with ‘bad’ Budgets
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Rachel Reeves’ two “bad” budgets are damaging to feminism, Kemi Badenoch has suggested.
The Tory leader said Ms Reeves would only have a positive impact as the first female Chancellor if she did a “good” job, warning her current record was not “great for women”.
In a highly personal attack over the Budget on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch accused Ms Reeves of “whining about misogyny and mansplaining”.
Asked if she was saying it was “bad for women” for the Chancellor to focus on her gender, she told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast: “I do think that the price for real equality is that you are judged by the same standards as everyone else.
“Bringing in your identity, in my view, actually cheapens whatever achievement it is that you have. We’ve had three female prime ministers. Let’s remember, prime ministers have to fight for the job, chancellors are appointed.
“She made a whole hooha about being the first woman to ever present a budget. Okay, fine. But then it’s got to be good, otherwise you are the only woman who’s ever presented a budget, and it’s bad.
“We now have two bad budgets from a woman. That’s not great for women. And when I stand up doing my job, I think about the impression I’ve got to give, and it has to be about high standards, not about my own personal achievement.”
09:24am
Reeves ‘acting like she’s still at school’ says Badenoch
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Kemi Badenoch accused Rachel Reeves of “acting like she’s still at school” by saying her critics were guilty of “mansplaining” to her.
“I also have to deal with barrage of abuse every single week at Prime Minister’s Questions,” the Conservative leader told the BBC.
“The Prime Minister can get very personal. Labour MPs shouting. There’s only 120 conservatives. There’s well over 400 Labour MPs.
“But I don’t complain about it. I don’t say it’s misogyny or racism or anything like that. I took on a tough job and I’ve got to do it the way anybody else has to.
“And what I find unbelievably frustrating is that Rachel Reeves is the second most powerful person in the country. And she keeps acting like she’s still at school and people are being mean to her.”
The Budget also attracted criticism for including a £13bn tax raid on incomes despite Labour’s manifesto pledge not to target working people.
The Chancellor froze thresholds for income tax and National Insurance for another three years in her Budget, as part of a £26bn package of increases largely targeting the middle classes.
In response, Mrs Badenoch dubbed Ms Reeves’s package “a Budget for Benefit Street paid for by working people”.
09:15am
Benefit increase dwarfs private sector pay growth
Benefit spending has increased at nearly double the pay of rises in private sector pay since Labour came to power.
This chart by stockbroker Peel Hunt shows which groups are better off since the start of the Starmer administration.
09:06am
Reeves delivered ‘third world’ Budget, says Badenoch
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The Budget was “third world politics”, Kemi Badenoch has said, after the Chancellor unveiled £26bn of tax rises to fund a rise in welfare spending.
The Conservative leader said Rachel Reeves was imitating Nigeria, where she was born, by “raising taxes to pay for welfare”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Mrs Badenoch said Nigeria “became poor because there were endless transfers from the places that were making the money to places that weren’t making the money”.
“Rather than trying to help the poorer places get wealthier, they just kept redistributing until everyone became poorer,” Mrs Badenoch said. “And that worries me when I see that happening in the UK.
“What Rachel Reeves did yesterday, raising taxes to pay for welfare, I see very much as third world politics, ‘We’ll just take a little bit from here without fixing the underlying problem’.”
09:04am
Mitchells & Butlers faces £130m blow from rising wage and food costs
The owner of All Bar One has revealed it is facing extra costs of around £130m in the year ahead from a soaring wage bill and rising food prices.
Mitchells & Butlers – which also owns brands such as Toby Carvery, Harvester and Miller & Carter – said the increase was largely driven by April’s rise in employer National Insurance contribution and the minimum wage, which will jump again next year.
The additional bill of about £130m also includes its preliminary assessment of the impact of the Budget this week, it said, although bosses did not outline what the impact of that would be.
However, shares rose by 9.3pc as it said the blow was “slightly less than 6pc of our cost base before mitigation”.
The Government announced earlier this week that the minimum wage will jump by another 4.1pc from April.
Mitchells & Butlers chief executive Phil Urban said: “As we look to the year ahead, we anticipate increased cost pressures across the sector.
“However, we remain confident in our ability to manage these challenges through our established Ignite improvement programme and disciplined capital investment strategy.”
The Budget delivered a further blow to many firms such as pubs, restaurants and small shops, which are all expected to see their property tax payments surge from the next financial year.
The Government confirmed a current 40pc discount for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses – which is capped at £110,000 per business – will end on March 31 next year, to be replaced by a new system from the next financial year, which will see rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure firms set 5p lower than the standard rate with no cap in support.
08:53am
Budget ‘increases likelihood’ of December rate cut
Rachel Reeves has “increased the likelihood” that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next month after announcing support on energy bills and freezing fuel duty.
Shaan Raithatha, senior economist at investment manager Vanguard, said the Budget had “points to slightly stronger growth next year and a softer inflation profile, helped by measures that lower household energy bills and the continued fuel‑duty freeze”.
He said: “Taken together, the Budget is broadly neutral for monetary policy, but at the margin it increases the likelihood that the Bank of England will cut in December—taking Bank Rate from 4pc to 3.75pc — and guide towards a landing near 3.25pc by mid‑2026
“Improved buffers should also support fiscal credibility, which is constructive for gilt markets. As ever, we advise investors to stay the course.”
Money markets indicate there is a 91pc chance that policymakers will cut interest rates at their next meeting on December 18.
08:37am
New workers rights faced delay without day-one U-turn, says Phillipson
Bridget Phillipson said there was a “very real prospect” the Employment Rights Bill would have been delayed if the Government had not made a U-turn over day one protections against unfair dismissal.
It emerged on Thursday that Sir Keir Starmer has scrapped the flagship pledge in the workers’ rights bill championed by Angela Rayner, his former deputy.
Education Secretary Ms Phillipson said there had been discussion around unfair dismissal and when businesses should have to give protections against unfair dismissal.
She said the revised Bill would reduce the time taken for workers to be given protections from two years to six months.
“But the risk here was that if we didn’t make progress, those important rights wouldn’t come into force from April next year,” she told Sky News.
She insisted it was not a broken manifesto promise, because Labour’s election document had committed to a consultation.
The manifesto said “we will consult fully with businesses, workers, and civil society on how to put our plans into practice before legislation is passed” but went on: “This will include banning exploitative zero hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal.”
Asked if it was a broken promise, Ms Phillipson said: “In the manifesto, what we said was that we would work with trade unions, with business, with civil society, in consulting on those protections that we’d be bringing forward.
“So, there are both parts to that, within the manifesto, the important rights and the consultation.”
08:31am
Cost of hiring young people jumps by £4,000
Employers face £4,000 in extra costs if they want to hire young people, a think tank has warned after the Chancellor pushed up the minimum wage.
Rachel Reeves was accused by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) of “piling up the costs” for businesses to take on staff in their first jobs.
Her first Budget had already made 2025 the most expensive year on record for businesses employing those on the minimum wage, it said.
The latest increase announced this week means the cost of hiring someone aged 18-20 working full-time on the minimum wage has increased from £15,652 in 2024 to £18,200 in 2025 and to £19,747 in 2026.
This is a two-year increase of 26pc, or £4,095.
Daniel Herring of CPS said: “With unemployment rising and job vacancies falling, Rachel Reeves should have used the Budget to announce pro-growth measures that encourage businesses to hire.
“Instead she has piled up the cost of employment. Businesses faced with difficult operating conditions will be less likely to take a chance on a younger worker, or someone with fewer skills to offer, now that the cost of hiring them has skyrocketed.
“In the case of a young person an 18- to 20-year-old working full time, by over £4,000 in just two years.’
08:22am
Phillipson sidesteps question on Labour manifesto
Asked whether Labour’s election manifesto was “fact or fiction”, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told LBC Radio: “I am really proud that we have delivered already so many of the manifesto commitments that we made, whether that’s in education or around employment rights and much, much more besides.
“From April next year, millions of workers and lots and lots of your listeners will have access to sick pay that they wouldn’t otherwise have. That is a really big, important step.”
08:09am
Phillipson insists dropping Rayner’s workers rights pledge not a U-turn
Bridget Phillipson did not accept that watering down the Employment Rights Bill was a U-turn.
The Government announced on Thursday that it was abandoning plans to allow employees to sue for unfair dismissal on day one of their employment.
The about-turn – agreed after two days of secret talks between businesses, unions and ministers – rips up the flagship pledge in the bill championed by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
The Education Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t accept that characterisation, I’m afraid. The Employment Rights Bill represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.”
She said she was “incredibly proud of what we’re achieving here”.
Asked about a Labour backlash against the decision to drop day one protections, Ms Phillipson said: “People in the Labour Party and our trade unions feel very strongly about the importance of delivering better rights at work, as do I.
“The trade unions have been involved in this discussion.”
08:06am
UK stocks edge higher in wake of Budget
The FTSE 100 rose again as investors enjoy a post-Budget rally.
The UK’s flagship stock index was up 0.2pc at the open at 9,708.95, which puts it on course for a fourth consecutive day of gains.
The mid-cap FTSE 250, which is more focused on the domestic market, edged up 0.1pc to 22,107.47. It is on track to rise for a fifth straight day.
08:01am
School funding won’t be cut to pay for Send, says Phillipson
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has insisted funding for schools would not be cut because of a £6bn black hole in the way special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are funded.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned in its assessment of the Budget that schools would see a 4.9pc fall in per pupil spending if the Government met Send costs from the Department for Education’s core schools funding.
“There are those deficits that have been inherited. They’ve been building up over a long period of time, council deficits that the OBR, for the first time, are now including on the Government balance sheet,” Ms Phillipson told Sky News.
“What the OBR set out in their document was what that would look like if it were to be dealt with entirely within the Department for Education’s budget, from school budgets.
“We’ve been clear - and the Treasury were clear - and the document that ran alongside the Budget that this is a question for the whole of government, not simply for the Department for Education or for the school’s budget.
“The OBR set out a hypothetical scenario that’s not going to happen, that isn’t government policy and actually, this year and every year, we’re investing in more support for children.”
07:52am
Good morning
Thanks for joining me. Kemi Badenoch has argued Rachel Reeves’s welfare splurge is unchristian after the Chancellor ramped up taxes to pay for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.
The Conservative leader said “in early Christian times there was no state or welfare” as she urged for restraint in spending.
As she put up taxes by £26bn in the Budget, the Chancellor said she would lift the two-child cap on benefit payments at a cost of £3bn a year by the end of the decade.
In her response to the Budget, Ms Badenoch quoted St Paul’s advice to Timothy in the Bible which said “anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith”.
Asked on Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast if she meant welfare spending was unchristian, she said “you can argue that”.
She said: “My message is let’s get people off welfare into work.
“Let us not leave debt for our children and grandchildren. That is the worst unfairness.”
Pushed again, she added: “In early Christian times there was no state or welfare so I think that you can argue that, actually.
“The Christian tradition is about communities and families and charity, not about compulsory taxation in order to pay welfare.
“We need a party that still talks about personal responsibility. We are the only party that is talking about limiting welfare.”
Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor has said the Conservatives want to “go further” than the £23bn of welfare cuts they already want to make.
The Tories unveiled their proposed benefit cuts as part of a wider £47bn in savings across government that were unveiled at their annual party conference in Manchester last month. Here is what you need to know.
5 things to start your day
1. Hinkley Point C nuclear power station will add £1bn a year to energy bills | Electricity project will be UK’s most expensive source with consumers footing the cost
2. Reeves imposes £60bn bigger tax raid than pledged in manifesto | Chancellor’s ‘fully funded plan’ has amounted to figure nearly eight times larger than promised
3. BBC licence fee to approach £200 a year | Number of paying customers to fall by one million as audiences turn to streaming rivals
4. Swiss businessmen accused of bribing Trump with Rolex and gold bar | Punitive US tariffs on Alpine nation reduced after Oval Office meeting
5. The brutal logic that will force Reeves to raise taxes again | The Chancellor faces multiple spending pressures that can only be funded by extra levies
What happened overnight
Asian shares are poised to end a tough November on steadier ground as revived hopes of an imminent US rate cut helped soothe valuation jitters and sent Treasuries rallying for a fourth straight month.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3pc on Friday, but was still up 2.7pc for the week, the first weekly rise in four. For the month, it was still down 3pc.
US stocks climbed, with the benchmark S&P 500 up by 0.6pc. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.8pc and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 0.7pc.
Oil prices were broadly flat, with the price of Brent crude edging up by 0.2pc to $62.08.
Bitcoin climbed by 1.5pc to $91,407 while the price of Ethereum edged up by 0.5pc to $3,036.
Yields on 10-year Treasuries fell by one basis point to 3.99pc.
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