The Latest Breaking News from OBR

Reeves’s tax U-turn: how Labour changed course on budget plans

Chancellor spent weeks preparing the ground for breaking manifesto pledge but events this week appeared to change her mind

The Guardian - UK · Nov 14, 2025

Rachel Reeves ‘plans to raise income tax’ in Budget

Chancellor reportedly looking to hike income tax but cut National Insurance in bid to place burden of tax rises on landlords and pensioners

The Independent UK · Nov 6, 2025

Ignore the howls around pay-per-mile, chancellor. We can’t afford not to tax electric cars

The issue of how motoring taxes should change as we decarbonise the economy has been dodged for too long. Car salesmen need to get real

The Guardian - UK · Nov 6, 2025

I hope Rachel Reeves does raise income tax – there’s a way she can do it fairly

The chancellor might need to break manifesto pledges and a 50-year taboo, but she has a chance to steer UK finances back on track, says Ruth Curtice of the Resolution Foundation

The Guardian - UK · Nov 4, 2025

‘The money machine is misfiring’: City blames Brexit for UK’s £20bn productivity headache

Poor output since the leave vote has landed Rachel Reeves with a bigger-than-forecast budget spending gap

The Guardian - UK · Oct 31, 2025

Pound suffers further falls as UK’s fiscal troubles set to deepen

The UK’s independent fiscal watchdog has reportedly cut its productivity forecast, deepening the challenging facing the Chancellor.

Evening Standard · Oct 29, 2025

Fresh blow for Reeves as house builders warn Labour will struggle to hit 1.5m homes target

The warning is likely to harm prospects for the OBR upgrading its forecast for economic growth from construction

The Independent UK · Oct 29, 2025

UK can ‘defy’ gloomy forecasts despite productivity problems, says Chancellor

Rachel Reeves argued that austerity, Brexit and the pandemic had left ‘deep scars’ on the UK’s economy.

Evening Standard · Oct 29, 2025

Britain can defy gloomy economic forecasts, says Rachel Reeves

Exclusive: Fiscal watchdog predicts productivity downgrade will leave chancellor with £20bn gap to fill in budget

The Guardian - UK · Oct 28, 2025

Rachel Reeves has only one option to grow the economy

THE INDEPENDENT VIEW: Editorial: With a £20bn Budget black hole to plug, the chancellor has no option but to break Labour’s manifesto pledge – tinkering in the margins will hurt growth, while slashing public spending will lead to electoral ruin

The Independent UK · Oct 28, 2025