The countdown to Labour’s first budget for 14 years continues. Unfortunately for Rachel Reeves, the mood music is not particularly promising. While the Chancellor was offered a ray of light on Wednesday with the news that inflation has fallen to 1.7 per cent (therefore leading to speculation of rate cuts sooner rather than later), Reeves’ party is growing increasingly concerned about what she will say at the despatch box come October 30th.
As first reported by Bloomberg, several cabinet ministers have written to Keir Starmer to raise alarm over real term cuts they have had to model for their departments. While last minute wrangling between ministers and the Treasury is expected ahead of a budget, the decision to go above Reeves’s head and straight to the Prime Minister is striking. It comes as Reeves sends her pre-Budget plans to the Office of Budget Responsibility.
The decision to go above Reeves’s head and straight to Starmer may backfire
Amid crowing from the Tories of ‘I told you so’, Reeves is looking to raise tax and show spending restraint.
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