Budget Day Chaos as Details Leak Before Speech
Chancellor Rachel Reeves faced one of the most chaotic Budget presentations in recent political memory on Wednesday 26 November 2025, after the Office for Budget Responsibility accidentally released the entire Budget details less than an hour before she was due to speak.
The staggering blunder meant that when Ms Reeves stood to deliver her much-anticipated speech to a cheering Labour benches, most of her announcements had already been revealed. MPs erupted in outrage upon learning they wouldn't receive copies of the OBR report or Budget red book until after the Chancellor had finished speaking.
Economic Reality Bites Hard
Behind the initial cheers lay some brutal economic truths that the Chancellor struggled to conceal. The OBR forecasts showed growth will be down while inflation rises, directly undermining Ms Reeves' primary objective of tackling the cost of living crisis.
In a significant blow to taxpayers, the Chancellor is adding £26 billion to the tax burden, despite having promised last year there would be no further tax increases after previously hiking taxes by £40 billion. The combined tax rises present an eye-watering bill for British households and businesses.
Among the most controversial measures is a mansion tax targeting the most expensive properties using outdated council tax valuations. Critics argue this approach seems unfair and could further destabilise the already struggling housing market.
Political Calculations Dominate Economic Strategy
This Budget appears heavily focused on political survival rather than pure economic strategy. Ms Reeves allocated an additional £3.6 billion annually to end the child benefit cap, a move designed to appease disgruntled Labour backbenchers.
The Chancellor also targeted high earners by preventing them from using pensions to offset income tax, delivering the wealth taxes that many Labour MPs had demanded. She avoided revisiting the £5 billion in welfare cuts that she was forced to abandon before summer following a backbench rebellion.
Faced with economic growth that simply hasn't materialised and has now been downgraded again, Ms Reeves has expanded her single aim of economic growth into three broader objectives: tackling the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting times, and reducing debt.
As the Chancellor told MPs, "I have made my choices... those are Labour choices." Now she must wait to see whether those choices will be enough to save both her position and that of her boss, Sir Keir Starmer.
