Reeves eyes tax hikes as economy 'suffers severe Brexit impact'

RACHEL REEVES acknowledged she was looking at potential tax rises and spending cuts to fill a black hole in next month’s Budget which she said was partly due to the lingering impact of Brexit.

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The Chancellor confirmed the budget watchdog had “consistently overestimated” the UK's productivity, with the expected downgrade of its previous assumptions likely to make Ms Reeves’ task even harder.

With no boom in economic growth, stubbornly high inflation and the mounting costs of government debt, Ms Reeves will have to fill a black hole estimated at around £50bn by some economists.

Ms Reeves told Sky News the economy was still suffering from the impacts of leaving the European Union, austerity policies and Liz Truss’s mini-budget.