The Chancellor has tried to blame Nigel Farage, Brexit and the Tories for her looming raid on people’s finances.

But she is the one at fault. Read more here

Alan Lees, Chief Executive of the National Association of Retired Police Officers and a spokesperson for LLA, said: “Older people are not fair game for the Treasury. Many have already seen their modest pensions dragged into the tax net because thresholds have been frozen since 2021. Any further rise would be a stealth tax on the very people who built this country.

“The Chancellor talks about fairness and strong foundations, but fairness cannot mean asking pensioners to shoulder the burden for decades of fiscal mismanagement. Older people need stable incomes, secure housing and affordable care – not more uncertainty at every Budget.”

Keir Starmer has warned his Cabinet that they must expect difficult decisions in the Budget, as he ruled out spending cuts or increased borrowing – which appears to leave tax hikes as the only option.

At a meeting with his top team today, the Prime Minister said the upcoming Budget would be “a very significant moment” because the cost of borrowing was high. He also said previous governments had gone down “the road of austerity”, which had made things worse, not better, a Number 10 spokesman said.

The Prime Minister said “a fair response” to these challenges was needed, which would be set out at the Budget.

And the Chancellor told the Cabinet that she had to “respond to the world as it is now, not as she might wish it to be” – whichy would mean “taking the right decisions at the Budget”.

Responding to the Chancellor’s speech today, Silver Voices Director Dennis Reed said: “It is clear that the Chancellor is going to break her pledge not to raise income tax, but the pain is likely to be targeted at pensioners. Egged on by the anti-pensioner think tanks such as the Resolution Foundation, and their man in Government Torsten Bell MP, the Chancellor is seriously considering compensating “working people” for any rises in the basic rate of income tax by cutting national insurance, which of course retired people do not pay. This would be seen as a direct and deliberate attack on the living standards of older people, the large majority of whom already pay some income tax.

“Even those with small additional pensions are now caught in the tax system because of the frozen lower tax threshold. If income tax is to rise it is doubly important that the lower tax threshold is unfrozen, or an age-related personal allowance is reintroduced. An income tax rise targeted at older people, coupled with an extension of the frozen tax thresholds, would be the worst-case scenario for pensioners.”

Kemi: “We’re the only party with a plan.

“The message that this government is sending couldn’t be clearer: don’t bother doing the right thing; don’t bother living within your means, because the government won’t; don’t bother putting money away to cover your bills, you’ll just end up paying for those that don’t.

“The Budget is an opportunity for Rachel Reeves to fix this, to make savings and take the pressure off all of us. But this morning what we saw was that she has given up trying.”

Kemi Badenoch says Labour echoes the language of Robin Hood when talking about the economy.

The Tory leader asks what does ‘fairness’ mean?

“Labour talk about fairness with the language of Robin Hood. They think those that have have taken from those that don’t have. They talk about those with the broadest shoulders never worrying about the limit of what those shoulders can bear.

“They talk about fairness for ‘working people’, but they can’t define what a working person is!

“They think that what they’re doing is righteous, but they’re wrong. What they’re doing is making everyone poorer.”

Kemi says the economy ‘doesn’t have to be like this’

She says we saw an ‘extraordinary spectacle’ this morning “rushed into a panicked speech”.

She blasts: “What we got was a masterclass in managed decline. A Chancellor claiming she was just going to ‘set the context’, but instead of clarity business leaders are none the wiser, business leaders are confused, workers are anxious.

“Because the truth is Labour doesn’t have a plan to get Britain working again!

“The Chancellor’s speech was one long wafflebomb. A laundry list of excuses in which she blamed everybody else for her own choices, her own decisions, her own failures.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is now about to make her own pre-Budget speech on the economy, following Nigel Farage yesterday and Rachel Reeves this morning.

She will call on Labour to focus on getting Britons back to work.

She will condemn Ms Reeves and Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden for having “given up” trying to reduce the welfare bill after reports emerged that the government has failed to identify any potential savings.

Left-wing Labour backbenchers appear to have forced the government into ditching all efforts to cut those on benefits such as Personal Independence Payments, despite the PM saying the cost of the bill is “unsustainable”.

Musa Sabo, Director at tax advisory firm Andersen LLP, comments: “Rachel Reeves’ speech this morning has done nothing to ease the fears surrounding the upcoming Budget, and such a speech would only be required ahead of breaking their manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on working people.

“The message from the Chancellor is now clear – brace yourselves for an increase to income tax, national insurance or VAT at the Budget.”

Rachel Reeves’ odds of exiting in 2026 have shortened dramatically following her Autumn Statement speech, where she refused to rule out tax rises.

Markets now imply her exit from No. 11 is now firmly viewed as a 2026 event.

2026 – 4/6 – 60%

2025 – 5/2 – 28.6%

2027 – 7/1 – 12.5%

2028 – 10/1 – 9.1%

2029 or later – 12/1 – 7.7%

Reform UK’s Richard Tice says today’s Reeves speech proves the Chancellor is intent on hammering working people with tax rises.

Richard Tice MP said: “Rachel Reeves has today confirmed what we all knew – she’s going to hammer working people with even more tax rises.

“Instead of cutting waste and spending, deregulating and optimising for growth, we are just getting more of the same. Only Reform is serious about building an economy that unleashes growth, backs British business and helps those who set their alarm clocks every morning.”

Tory shadow Chancellor Mel Stride says Rachel Reeves is being forced to make tax rises because she ‘doesn’t have the backbone’ to slash welfare spending.

Mr Stride fumed that Ms Reeves “has made an emergency speech because she is panicking about the speculation she has fuelled. But all she’s done is confirm the fears of households and businesses – that tax rises are coming.

“The Chancellor claims she fixed the public finances last year. If that was true, she would not be rolling the pitch for more tax rises and broken promises. The reality is she fiddled the fiscal rules so she could borrow hundreds of billions more.

“Every time the numbers don’t add up, Reeves blames someone else. But this is about choices – and she made all the wrong ones.

If Rachel Reeves had the backbone to get control of government spending – including the welfare bill – she wouldn’t need to raise taxes.

“If she breaks her promises yet again, enough is enough. She must go.”

Responding to Rachel Reeves’ speech ahead of the budget, Daisy Cooper, Treasury Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said:

“This wasn’t pitch rolling, it was pointless.

“It’s clear that this Budget will be a bitter pill to swallow as the government seems to have run out of excuses.

“The government can’t keep punishing households, high streets and hospices while big banks, gambling companies and social media giants don’t pay their fair share.

“If Rachel Reeves really wants to unleash growth for British businesses, she needs to get a better deal with the EU. It’s the elephant in the room she refuses to face.”

Commenting on Rachel Reeves’ pre-budget speech, Mitchell Palmer, economist of the Adam Smith Institute said:

“Reeves has once again refused to take responsibility for her government’s high-spending, anti-growth agenda, while preparing the public for yet more damaging tax rises in the coming budget.

“At the spring budget, we were told that higher borrowing costs meant difficult decisions, yet since then the government has chosen to keep spending, ignoring mounting debt and doubling down on policies that punish success rather than promote growth.

“The challenges we face are not wholly due to global uncertainties, but the result of a government unwilling to rein in spending and commit to genuine fiscal discipline.

An expert has accused Rachel Reeves of ‘gaslighting’ the British public following her speech this morning.

David Belle, Founder and Trader at Fink Money, said: “This government enjoys gaslighting the British public. Reeves is suggesting the world has faced more economic headwinds at the same time that US growth has been revised up from 3.2% to 3.8%. Also, why do we have the largest differential ever on inflation versus the G20 median?

“And the same therefore for our bond yield pricing? In truth, this economic collapse started when Labour got into power in July 2024. It is reasonable to suggest they are entirely incompetent at this stage due to the fact their policies do not rhyme with what they say on growth.

“What’s also now unfathomable is how the OBR forecasts that were once gospel are now being rubbished. The hypocrisy stemming from this talentless and grey Government is astounding.”

Express senior political correspondent Christian Calgie delivers his snap summary of Rachel Reeves’ speech this morning, at which she all-but confirmed she will break Labour’s manifesto tax pledges in the Budget.

Rachel Reeves’ speech this morning has wiped a mega £22 billion of the FTSE100’s market cap.

At close on Monday 3 November 2025, the FTSE100 was trading at 9,701.37.

By 9:16 on Tuesday 4 November 2025, the FTSE100 was trading at 9,605.60, down by 0.99 per cent.

The FTS100 market cap is £2.272 trillion, meaning the drop wiped £22.65 billion

We will share reaction to Rachel Reeves’s speech as we get it.

Responding to a pre-budget speech by the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will feel like the wind has been taken out of them after a gut punch of a speech by the chancellor, who has effectively confirmed reports of significant tax rises.

“Rachel Reeves said in her speech that her choices at the upcoming budget will shape the country for years to come, and there’s now little doubt that just like her first budget it will do severe and long-term damage to the economy, to household budgets and to trust in politicians.

“It’s still not too late for the chancellor to abandon plans to increase taxes and instead focus her fiscal policy on bringing down the spiralling cost of government.”

Rachel Reeves’ bizarre speech has sent FTSE 100 tumbling as Brits brace for a Budget of tax rises. The London blue-chip index fell 75.50 points to at 9625.87 by 8.15am.

Read the full story here

Chris Mason, the BBC’s Political Editor, is the first to quix Reeves on her rental licencing saga.

Reeves dodges the questions saying “she doesn’t have anything more to say on that” following an exchange of letters with the Prime Minister.

Rachel Reeves has just given a 15 minute speech on all the “challenges” the government is facing internationally and domestically ahead of the budget.

And yet she has completely dodged questions from reporters on whether she will break her own promises and raise taxes.

This speech from the Chancellor sounds like it could have been made in the run up to the last general election.

She’s looking pretty ashen-faced too – under intense pressure to deliver in a truly bleak situation.

Rachel Reeves said: “We will do what’s necessary to protect families, public services and hand down secure economy to next generation. “All have to contribute to that effort. Each must do our bit.”

The Chancellor said she changed fiscal rules during last year’s budget to “strike a careful balance” between investing in capital alongside growing the economy and bringing down national debt.

“That was the right decision to break the cycle of low productivity and low growth,” she said.

Ms Reeves added: “But that additional investment can only be delivered because markets know my commitment to the fiscal rules is ironclad.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said despite the UK’s “considerable economic strengths” it had been hit by a series of global challenges and persistent problems with productivity.

In a speech setting out the challenges she will face in her Budget later this month, she said “the world has thrown even more challenges our way” in the last 12 months.

“The continual threat of tariffs has dragged on global confidence, deterring business investment and dampening growth,” she told reporters in Downing Street.

“Inflation has been too slow to come down, as supply chains continue to be volatile, meaning the costs of everyday essentials remain too high.

“And the cost of government borrowing has increased around the world, a shift that Britain, with our high levels of debt left by the previous government, has been particularly exposed to.”

The Chancellor has indicated that the Government will press ahead with attempts to reform the welfare system, despite the defeat inflicted by backbench MPs previously.

“The Prime Minister, the Secretary of Work and Pensions, and this whole Government, are committed to reforming our welfare state. So that is not a system that counts the costs of failure, but one that invests in success and protects those who need it most.”

She added: “There is nothing progressive about refusing to reform a system that is leaving one in eight young people out of education or employment.

“So we have begun the job of creating a system that protects people who cannot work and empowers those who can.”

Rachel Reeves said: “I want people to understand the circumstances we are facing … the principles guiding my choices.”

She insists that “I fixed the foundations” in the last budget.

The Chancellor adds: “But since that Budget the world has thrown more challenges our way” – including tarrifs

The Chancellor has taken to the podium to begin speaking at Downing Street.

Rachel Reeves said: “The Budget this month will focus squarely on the priorities of the British people: cutting waiting lists, cutting the national debt and cutting the cost of living.

“Today I will set out the choices our country faces and the values that will guide my decisions.”

Ahead of the Chancellor’s remarks, No 10 repeatedly refused to re-commit to Labour’s manifesto pledges…fuelling speculation that its promise to avoid hiking income tax looks set to be broken.

I’m here inside the Downing Street briefing room bright and early for Rachel Reeves’s speech.

Us journalists aren’t particularly happy with the early hour of the moment, but it’s worth noting that the 8am start time coincides with the opening of London’s financial markets.

Hopefully this suggests there’ll actually be something of substance in the chancellor’s remarks.

It is by no means typical for a Chancellor to do a televised speech to the nation 22 days out from a budget — and it’s clear senior strategists are trying to handle this make-or-break fiscal statement with the utmost caution.

Pensioners must not be made the scapegoat for Rachel Reeves’s economic failures, campaigners have warned ahead of a speech by the Chancellor on Tuesday.

Ms Reeves will reveal her priorities for this month’s fiscal event and address mounting speculation about plans to break her manifesto commitment on income tax.

Read the full piece online here

Britons preparing for school runs and commutes across the land will have their favorite background shows interrupted at 8.10am so the Chancellor can spend 25 minutes or so leveling with them directly about the bleak state of the national finances.

Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises to come ahead of a press conference this morning.

We are expecting the Chancellor to speak at around 8am.