𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a black hole in the public finances when she delivers her second budget in the House of Commons.

Ms Reeves has said the Budget will focus on three priorities: cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt.

The Chancellor is said to be facing a more difficult economic outlook in the medium term, with reports that the Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded its growth forecast for 2026 and every other year before the next election due in 2029.

11.48am

Farmers are not the only ones who have been making their point with eye-catching protests in the political heart of London – these creative campaigners called on the Chancellor to bring in a wealth tax.

11.46am

The “riot act” has been read to parliamentarians and Government insiders responsible for leaking elements of the Budget, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said.

The lead-up to Rachel Reeves’ statement has been characterised by a flurry of leaks and speculation about the contents of her statement.

Mr Jones told LBC Radio: “There have been some leaks which are unacceptable and not very helpful.

“We’ve had to read the riot act to people in Government about that.”

11.43am

Farmers have made their feelings clear ahead of the Chancellor’s statement, bringing tractors to a Budget day protest against proposed inheritance tax changes, despite a police ban on agricultural machinery in Westminster.

More than a dozen tractors could be seen parked outside Parliament on Wednesday morning, with rush-hour traffic brought to a standstill and farmers repeatedly sounding the tractor horns while police stood watching.

The Metropolitan Police said said the decision to ban agricultural machinery from Whitehall had been taken because of “serious disruption” the vehicles may cause to the local area, including businesses, emergency services and the public.

David Gunn, an arable farmer and agricultural contractor from near Sevenoaks in Kent, said he was protesting on Budget day for a number of reasons, including the Government move to put inheritance tax on larger farm businesses.

He said: “Inheritance tax is one reason, it’s going to cripple the farmers, the small family farmers.

“There’s all the other taxes they’ve been putting on us, and the prices we get for our produce and what it costs in the shop, we don’t make any money.

“Then there’s food security, farmers are going out of business.”

11.35am

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just emerged from 11 Downing Street with the famous red box on Budget day.

11.30am

Rachel Reeves acknowledged people are “angry at unfairness” in the British economy in a filmed address ahead of the Budget.

The Chancellor said the Government had started to see results in the past year, with “wages rising faster than inflation, hospital waiting lists coming down and our economy growing faster and stronger than people expected”.

“But I know there is more to do,” she said.

“I know that the cost of living is still bearing down on family finances, I know that people feel frustrated at the pace of change, or angry at the unfairness in our economy.

“I have to be honest that the damage done from austerity, a chaotic Brexit and the pandemic were worse than we thought.”

11.25am

Ahead of the statement in the Commons, it was announced that the National Living Wage will rise from next April by 4.1% to £12.71 an hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over, and the National Minimum Wage rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour.

Hover over this interactive graphic to see how much the minimum wage has increased by since 1999.

Elsewhere, mayors in England will be given the power to impose a “modest” charge on visitors staying in hotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses and holiday lets – dubbed a tourist tax.

The money raised is intended to be invested in transport, infrastructure and the visitor economy to potentially attract more visitors.