Reeves defends Budget previews

RACHEL Reeves has defended her handling of her Budget last week, as opposition figures claimed she misled the public over the size of the fiscal “repair job” she faces.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

In media interviews yesterday, the Chancellor said she “of course” did not lie to the public when she set out a gloomy economic picture at the beginning of November.

She told broadcasters: “Anyone who thinks that there was no repair job to be done on the public finances, I just don’t accept that.

“We needed to build more resilience, more headroom into our economy. That's what I did, along with that investment in the NHS and cutting bills for families.”

Pre-Budget speculation had suggested Ms Reeves faced a significant gap in her spending plans, partly due to a downgrade to productivity forecasts expected to be delivered by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The Chancellor fed that speculation in a speech in Downing Street on November 4, when she said weaker productivity had “consequences for the public finances” in the form of “lower tax receipts”.

Opposition politicians, including Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, have claimed this was “misleading” as the OBR had already provided her with a forecast showing the situation was not as bad as feared.