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The accidental leak of details of Rachel Reeves’ Budget by the Office for Budget Responsibility before she got to her feet was one final bit of chaos for this make-or-break Budget, says political editor David Maddox
Wednesday 26 November 2025 14:01 GMTComments
CloseDeputy speaker condemns government over early Budget briefings
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When Rachel Reeves got to her feet in the chamber, there was an enormous cheer from her colleagues. But that was about the high point for the chancellor – with faces behind her on the Labour benches soon turning to misery as she began unveiling her long-awaited Budget.
It took almost an hour for another big cheer, coming after she announced the end of the two-child benefit cap.
The problem may well have been that she had nothing new to tell them – because what little of this Budget had not been pre-briefed to the media had been released in error by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) less than an hour before Ms Reeves’ big moment.
The staggering blunder sparked outrage in parliament from MPs who will not be allowed copies of the OBR report, or the Budget red book, until Ms Reeves has sat down.
Follow our live Budget updates HERE
open image in galleryThe chancellor’s Budget was released early by the Office for Budget Responsibility (PA)While Ms Reeves was this time able to blame an official at the OBR, the error was no doubt the cherry on the top of a truly chaotic run-up to the event, involving months of leaks and briefings – as well as U-turns on the leaks and briefings.
On top of that, it was hard for Ms Reeves to hide the brutal facts of this Budget.
Growth will be down, according to the OBR, while inflation will be up – undermining her now primary hope of tackling the cost of living.
She will be adding £26bn to the tax bill, having promised last year that there would be no more tax rises after hiking it then by £40bn. The combined £26bn in extra taxes is eye-watering.
The mansion tax raid on the most expensive properties using the outdated council tax valuations will be seen as unfair and could hurt the housing market even more. The new landlord tax, the gambling taxes, limiting the amount people can save in ISAs are all moves which attack the middle classes and disincentivise saving for their future.
But, in the end, this is a political Budget aimed mostly at keeping Ms Reeves and her boss Sir Keir Starmer in their jobs.
That meant finding another £3.6bn a year to end the child benefit cap to please disgruntled Labour MPs. It meant going after people who have succeeded in their jobs by preventing them from using pensions to offset income tax.
open image in galleryThe chancellor scrapped the two-child benefit cap and unveiled a mansion tax in her Budget (PA)So-called wealth taxes are what Labour MPs wanted. They will be pleased she is not revisiting the U-turn on the £5bn in welfare cuts she was forced to do before the summer after a backbench rebellion.
The chancellor will be hoping that by changing her one aim of economic growth to three aims – tackling the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting times and cutting debt – will be enough to unite her party and put the government back on course.
She has had her hand forced because economic growth simply has not happened and has now been downgraded again.
Ms Reeves told MPs: “I have made my choices... those are Labour choices.”
She must now keep her fingers crossed and hope that it is enough to save her and Sir Keir.
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