Rachel Reeves opts for late Budget as she admits Britain’s economy ‘not working’ – UK politics live

In policy news this morning, the government has announced that under-16s will be barred from buying high caffeine energy drinks in a bid to protect children’s health.

The government has launched a 12-week consultation on the issue and plans to implement the change as soon as it can.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said eight out of 10 parents wanted to see the ban.

He told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday that teachers are also concerned as they “see the impact of these drinks on children’s concentration, their learning, their behaviour”.

Meanwhile, doctors “have warned about the long term impact of these high caffeine energy drinks, many of them full of sugar – just one can of this stuff is the equivalent of necking four cans of Coke,” he said.

A leading think tank boss has labelled the upcoming Budget “one of the toughest second Budgets in living memory”.

Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Ruth Curtice said tax rises were likely “necessary” but urged the Chancellor to “ensure they make the system fairer”.

“With higher gilt yields currently adding over £3 billion to debt interest costs, and over £6 billion of policy U-turns announced since March, the Chancellor is already on track to miss her fiscal rules,” she said.

“With a growth downgrade also likely, significant fiscal tightening will be needed.

“The Chancellor should use this Budget to set out her tax strategy as well as raise revenue. While tax rises are likely to be necessary, this should aim to ensure they make the system fairer and more efficient, supporting higher growth and lower inequality.”

The cost of UK long-term government borrowing dipped slightly after the Chancellor confirmed the date of the upcoming autumn Budget.

Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday morning the Budget will take place on November 26.

In response, the yield on Government bonds, called gilts, reduced to 5.694% compared with 5.698% at the market close on Tuesday.

It comes after gilt yields had struck a 27-year-high earlier on Wednesday amid concerns over further tax increases and spending cuts at the Budget.

Political editor David Maddox has taken a look at the timing of this year’s Budget.

Treasury sources this morning have been playing down the fact that the Budget is late this year on 26 November.

They claim it is “perfectly normal” if taken in the context of previous dates.

But it is true that the Budget is much later than the 30 October last year. However, at that point in 2024 Labour MPs were crying out for a Budget which was more than four months into a new government.

In fact, Ms Reeves seems to have reverted to the late dates which were common in George Osborne’s time at the Treasury. He once held a Budget in December in 2014 and had one almost the same day as Ms Reeves in 2015.

At the time though he was still dealing with the effects of the financial crisis and needed to give himself space to navigate the finances through a very tricky period.

Jeremy Hunt also had a late Budget in 2023 on 22 November but generally recent years it has been end of October early November.

Like Osborne and Hunt, Ms Reeves is dealing with extremely difficult economic headwinds with interest rates going up adding to the cost of borrowing and growth still stagnant. She needs time to work out how much tax she needs to raise and which taxes to impose.

Sources say she will not make a decision until she hears the predictions of the Office of Budget Responsibility. But a late Budget gives her the flexibility she needs to deal with a more than concerning economic picture.

Rachel Reeves said the economy is “not working well enough” as she set out the November 26 date for her autumn Budget.

In a video on X, the Chancellor said: “Britain’s economy isn’t broken. But I know it’s not working well enough for working people.

“Bills are high. Getting ahead feels tougher. You put more in, get less out. That has to change.“We’ve got huge potential – world-leading brands, dynamic industries, brilliant universities, and a skilled workforce. We’re a global hub for trade.

“Fixing the foundations has been my mission this past year. We raised the minimum wage for three million people; cut NHS waiting lists; started tearing up planning rules to build 1.5 million new homes; promised billions more for the country’s infrastructure; secured trade deals with the US, India, and the EU; and changed Treasury rules so investment reaches every part of the country.

“But I’m not satisfied. There’s more to do. Cost of living pressures are still real.

“And we must bring inflation and borrowing costs down by keeping a tight grip on day-to-day spending through our non-negotiable fiscal rules. It’s only by doing this can we afford to do the things we want to do.

“If renewal is our mission and growth is our challenge. Investment and reform are our tools. The tools to building an economy that works for you – and rewards you. More pounds in your pocket. An NHS there when you need it. Opportunity for all.

“Those are my priorities. The priorities of the British people. And it is what I am determined to deliver.”

This autumn’s Budget, set for November 26, will come nearly a month later than last year’s Budget was held. It is set to be the latest Budget in the year since George Osborne’s autumn statement in 2014.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will be given the required 10 weeks’ notice to provide an independent forecast, after which the full scale of the fiscal “black hole” will be confirmed to Ms Reeves.

But the late timing means households and businesses will have less time to plan around any new taxes before the start of the new fiscal year in April.

Our political editor David Maddox has this analysis following the confirmation of the budget date.

Rachel Reeves has announced that her second Budget will be on 26 November with speculation whirling around whether she will have to plug a £40bn black hole.

However, Treasury sources have warned: “The kite flying [on taxes] has to stop, it is not coming from us.”There has been talk of a new tax on banks, a mansion tax, a gambling levy and national insurance payments for landlords.

But it is understood that Ms Reeves will not budge from her position that the government should not break its manifesto commitment and raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for employees.

She is also expected to not revise her borrowing rules despite pressure from within her own party to borrow more.

We can also expect a series of announcements on productivity including investment in major projects ahead of the Budget as Ms Reeves tries to stimulate growth.Her top priority sounds like it is still economic growth despite Sir Keir removing that mission from Downing Street.

She will also be trying to keep down inflation and keeping a grip on the public finances.

Amid speculation Ms Reeves is being sidelined by the PM, a source insisted that the chancellor will take the decisions on the Budget not DS “this is a close political project, Keir and Rachel work very closely together.”

The autumn Budget will take place on November 26, chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has apologised after a report resurfaced that while working as a hypnotherapist he claimed he could help women increase the size of their breasts, using his mind.

In 2013 it was reported that he made the claims while working as a hypnotherapist in Harley Street, London.

Asked if voters could trust him in light of the claims, Mr Polanksi told BBC Breakfast: “Well, it’s never for a politician to say ‘trust me’.

“But what I would say is, I apologise, well, I apologised for that 12 years ago, and one of my favourite politicians, Tony Benn, often said, ‘I don’t care where you came from, I care where you’re going’.

“Ultimately trust is a transactional relationship where you build trust based on the actions.”

He added: “The Labour Government, when they could have been talking about the inequality act, or the homeless people on the streets, or the fact that we’ve just spent £15 billion in nuclear weapons – we could have that discussion – but no, the Labour Party yesterday put out a press release about a silly article way before I was a politician from over a decade ago that I’ve already apologised for.

“That sounds to me like this is a Labour Government worrying, and they should do.”

Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly has called the arrest of Father Ted creator Graham Linehan over anti-trans posts online an “overreach” and a “real over-reaction”.

Sir James told Times Radio: “From what I have seen, and I don’t have all the details, this does look like a real over-reaction to what was self-evidently a joke, and people can decide whether it was a funny joke or not a funny joke.

“I think he has himself said that it wasn’t a great joke, but to be arrested over something like that I think is an over-reach, and we’ve got to stop policing people because some people have taken offence.

“It was clearly, clearly not a serious incitement and I think there is an atmosphere that could just do with calming down a bit.”

It was put to him that policing similar incidents “grew under the Tory government”, and Sir James was asked if he was not “Conservative enough” in protecting “freedoms like non-crime hate incidents”, to which he responded: “Let’s be realistic about the about the scale of what’s going on here – this shouldn’t have happened. From what I can see, it should not have happened.”