Do you think Rachel Reeves misled the public before the budget? Have your say

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has denied accusations that she misled the public about the state of the country’s finances in the lead up to the autumn budget.

Reeves has faced claims that she led the public to believe the country’s finances were in worse shape than they actually were.

That includes her speech from Downing Street on 4 November, in which Reeves laid the groundwork for tax rises, as the chancellor warned she would make “choices necessary to deliver strong foundations” for the UK economy.

Reports suggested ahead of the budget that the chancellor was expected to face a gap of as much as £20bn in the government budget. However, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said in a letter, published on Friday, that in its forecast submitted to the chancellor on 31 October the government was set to meet its fiscal targets with £4.2bn headroom.

In its final forecasts compiled after the Treasury then submitted its planned budget policy changes, which included £26.1bn in tax rises, the OBR said these measures would see the government’s headroom increase to £21.7bn.

Here’s more detail on some of the major announcements from the budget, in case you missed any of the key moments:

In a post on social media platform X on Friday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that the OBR’s letter showed that Reeves had “lied to the public” and “must be sacked”.

When asked directly if she had lied in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, Reeves responded: “Of course I didn’t.”

She said that “£4bn of headroom would not have been enough, and it would not give the Bank of England space to continue to cut interest rates.”

Do you think that Reeves misled the public on the state of the UK’s financial situation ahead of the budget? Vote in the poll below.

Yahoo UK’s poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week’s hot topics. After the poll closes, we’ll publish and analyse the results each Friday, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.

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