The Latest Breaking News from Budget

The company said increases to employer taxes would cause ‘significant increased costs for our industry in the near term’.

Pharmacies could also withdraw from providing emergency contraception

Collective action could begin in January if there is not an ‘adequate response’ from Government, the National Pharmacy Association said.

It’s hard to pinpoint the most egregious side effects of Rachel Reeves’s Budget so far, with its blizzard of bizarre policies fraught with unpleasant unintended consequences. Who do they most want to hurt? Business owners, farmers and parents who have the cheek to want the best education for their children…

Sir Keir Starmer’s press secretary confirmed the threshold for council tax increases will remain at 5%.

The Conservative leader raised the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions with Sir Keir Starmer.

The pub group said the rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions will cost it £3 million with a further £5 million due in wage increases.

Wes Streeting said he recognised the pressures that organisations which provided care outside the public sector were facing.

Pub bosses have warned that prices will have to go up

The combination of increases in national insurance contributions and higher wage bills could force or cuts or even closures, the BMA said.

Former political adviser John McTernan said the Government should ‘do what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners’ to protesting farmers.