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Downing Street denies claims that Rachel Reeves misled the public about a £20 billion black hole in the public finances
Kate Devlin,Bryony GoochSunday 30 November 2025 08:18 GMTComments
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Sir Keir Starmer will back the Budget in a speech next week after Downing Street dismissed claims Rachel Reeves misled voters over the scale of the fiscal challenge facing the UK.
The chancellor will face fresh scrutiny on Sunday’s media round over what she told the public and markets about the state of the economy.
It comes amid a growing row over pre-Budget speculation she faced as much as a £20 billion gap in meeting her fiscal rules. Ms Reeves used a speech on November 4 to suggest tax rises were needed because poor productivity growth would have “consequences for the public finances”.
But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Friday said it had informed the Chancellor as early as September 17 that an improved tax take from growing wages and inflation meant the shortfall was likely smaller than initially expected, and told her in October it had been eliminated altogether.
Downing Street rallied around Ms Reeves, with a source saying the speech was “entirely accurate”. In an attempt to move the agenda on, Sir Keir will use a speech on Monday to support the decisions taken by Ms Reeves in the Budget and set out his long-term growth plans.
Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has written to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to urge it to investigate “potential market abuse” over the speech.
Key Points
- Reeves to face media as pressure grows in Budget row
- Reeves accused of misleading public on Budget black hole to justify £26bn tax raid
- Starmer to back Budget amid row over Reeves’ deficit claims
Reeves to appear on Sunday morning round of politics shows
Rachel Reeves is set to appear on the morning round of politics shows today.
She’ll appear on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from approximately 8.30am, and Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg from 9am.
Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch will also appear on the Sunday shows.
Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 08:18John Rentoul: Rachel Reeves is misleading people about her Budget choices
Rachel Reeves is misleading people about her Budget choices
Both chancellor and prime minister repeatedly fail to think and plan ahead, writes John Rentoul – not least in their choice of using the ‘l-word’, which has come back to haunt them as regards taxes and so much elseBryony Gooch30 November 2025 08:12Families on modest incomes could be £18k worse off after Reeves abolition of two-child cap - report
Families on modest incomes could be £18,000 worse off than jobless parents claiming benefits following Rachel Reeves’s abolition of the two-child cap in the Budget, an analysis in The Telegraph reported.
A family with three children that has at least one parent claiming the average rates of Universal Credit (UC), combined with other benefits, will receive up to £46,000 by next year, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, chair of the CSJ and former leader of the Conservative party, said: “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.”
Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 08:05Tories and SNP call on City watchdog to look into 'misleading' Budget comments
Tory 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”.
Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 08:02Starmer knew there was no 'black hole in public finances' - report
Sir Keir Starmer reportedly knew there was no black hole in the public finances after critics have said Rachel Reeves has misled the public about the need for tax rises in the Budget.
Downing Street apparently confirmed the Prime Minister was happy with a speech by Ms Reeves, according to The Telegraph.
This is despite Sir Keir being made aware of official forecasts showing her fiscal rules would be met and that the Office for Budget Responsibility’s downgrade to productivity had not led to a shortfall in the public finances.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (left) and Rachel Reeves (Chris Jackson/PA) (PA Archive)Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 07:29Starmer to support Reeves with budget praise on Monday
Sir Keir Starmer is set to pivot to his long-term growth plans on Monday n a bid to move the agenda on from criticism of Rachel Reeves. He will praise the budget for providing “economic stability” and claiming that “economic growth is beating the forecasts”, according to The Times.
The prime minister will vow to scrap “misguided” regulations and root out unforeseen costs in “every corner of the economy”, warning that “excessive” red tape is piling costs on to big projects, such as energy plants, which ultimately lead to higher consumer bills.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will announce plans to go ‘further and faster’ to drive growth (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 07:26Starmer to back Budget amid row over Reeves’ deficit claims
Sir Keir Starmer will back the Budget while acknowledging the Government must go “further and faster” on growth, as Downing Street dismissed claims Rachel Reeves misled voters over the scale of the fiscal challenge as “categorically untrue”.
The Chancellor will face fresh scrutiny on Sunday’s media round over what she told the public and markets about the state of the economy.
Downing Street rallied around Ms Reeves, with a source saying: “No 10 was aware of the content of the speech, which we believe entirely accurately outlined the need to raise revenues.
“The idea that there was any misleading going on about the need to raise significant revenue as a result of the OBR figures, including the productivity downgrade they contained, is categorically untrue.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stands next to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Getty Images)Bryony Gooch30 November 2025 07:21Report: Reeves accused of misleading public on Budget black hole to justify £26bn tax raid
Rachel Reeves has been accused of misleading the public on the state of the country’s finances to justify £26bn worth of tax hikes in her Budget.
There had been dire warnings that the chancellor faced a £20bn black hole, 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.
But it has now emerged that Ms Reeves’s comments came days after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told her the economic picture had significantly improved and that, instead of a deficit, she had a surplus of £4.2bn.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called for the chancellor, whose Budget was seen as make-or-break for her political future, to be sacked, saying she had “lied to the public to justify record tax hikes” and was “bribing Labour MPs to save her own skin”.
Our Whitehall correspondent Kate Devlin brought the report on Friday:
Calls to investigate claims Treasury misled the public
The Treasury has been accused of giving ‘deliberately false and misleading’ briefings ahead of the BudgetAlex Croft29 November 2025 22:20Reeves to face media as pressure gows in Budget row
Welcome to our politics blog. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under significant pressure on Sunday as she prepares to for a grilling by the media over a row related to her Budget on Wednesday.
The Financial Conduct Authority is facing calls to calls to investigate whether the Treasury misled the public over the size of the fiscal repair job Rachel Reeves faced ahead of this week’s Budget.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) urged the watchdog to look into claims of “deliberately false and misleading” briefings about a £20 billion black hole in the public finances.
Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride also called for a probe into “potential market abuse”, The Times reported.
The letters come amid a growing row over pre-Budget speculation that the Chancellor faced a significant gap in her spending plans, partly as a result of a downgrade in productivity forecasts.
Stay with us for all the latest.
Rachel Reeves faced a smaller-than-expected gap in her spending plans at the Budget, despite warnings the black hole could amount to more than £20 billion (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)Alex Croft29 November 2025 22:17More about
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