Explore the latest developments concerning Budget 2025: key.
Rachel Reeves is announcing her financial update – here are the main points, with political analysis
The chancellor’s opening remarks were somewhat overshadowed by the fact that the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) assessment of her budget’s impact were accidentally published early, in an unprecedented gaffe that the shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, called “outrageous”.
As she stood at the dispatch box, Reeves opens by saying it was “deeply disappointing” and a “serious error on their part”, meaning the OBR.
“We are rebuilding our economy,” she says, pointing to trade deals with the US, India and the EU, planning reforms, an overhaul of the visa system and a change of fiscal rules to raise public investment to a four-decade high. She once again refers to the £22bn “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives, saying that taxes on the wealthiest have helped close the gap and fund the NHS.
Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch have gone through the motions of a Prime Minister's Question session before the Budget.
In response to questions from the Conservative leader, the prime minister said that it's "literally 25 minutes" until the measures will be unveiled.
The Budget is already out there, thanks to the Office for Budget Responsibility, which has published the details in error.
It caused a buzz in the Commons chamber, as Treasury Minister Torsten Bell – who was sitting behind Rachel Reeves – passed his mobile phone to the chancellor presumably to notify her of the news.
Reeves had also been looking at her own phone, and notes were being passed down the row of cabinet ministers.
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Everything you need to know following the Chancellor’s speech to the Commons
Rachel Reeves has delivered her Budget to the House of Commons.
Here, we’re summarising the key tax and spending policies that the Chancellor is announcing.
Some of the details were released early – by accident – by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The total tax increases, by 2029-30, will amount to £26bn, with 920,000 more higher-rate taxpayers by that point.
That will mean a record tax burden of 38.3pc of GDP by the end of the decade.
For more detailed information, explore updates concerning Budget 2025: key.
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