𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Rachel Reeves could face another sleaze probe after Nigel Farage accused her of creating a “sustained misrepresentation” of public finances. The Reform UK leader reported the Chancellor to the ethics watchdog yesterday, claiming she orchestrated a “public and media campaign portraying the public finances as being in a state of collapse” so she could hike taxes by £30billion in the Budget on Wednesday.

Reeves had continually warned of a bleak financial outlook that would make it difficult to meet her spending rules. However, it emerged that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told the Chancellor in October no deficit existed and she would meet her targets with £4.2bn surplus.

Writing to the adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, Farage said her actions “plainly meet the threshold for investigation” and her conduct prior to the Budget was of “grave concern”.

He claimed the Chancellor appeared to have broken the Ministerial Code, which requires her to “give accurate and truthful information to Parliament” and “be as open as possible with Parliament and the public”.

The Reform leader said the public now faced “the heaviest tax burden in generations on the basis of what increasingly looks like a sustained misrepresentation of the true fiscal position”.

In addition to repeated warnings of poor public finances, at a rare pre-Budget speech in Downing Street, the Chancellor said that the UK’s productivity was weaker “than previously thought” and that “has consequences for the public finances too”.

The Reform UK leader added: “Treasury officials repeatedly briefed journalists about an alleged ‘black hole’ of £22billion and even £40billion, figures incompatible with OBR forecasts the Chancellor had seen. There is no indication she corrected those briefings or disassociated herself from them.”

Rachel Reeves could also face an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), after the Tories accused her of “possible market abuse”, due to “briefings, leaks and spin from HM Treasury” that caused volatility in the City. Kemi Badnoch’s party demanded the Chancellor explained “the extent to which she misled the public” in the Commons today.

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch again called for her resignation, adding: “The Chancellor called an emergency Press conference… about how terrible the state of the finances were and now we have seen that the OBR had told her the complete opposite.”

The Times reported that some backlash even came from her own party. A senior figure told the paper: “At no point were the Cabinet told about the reality of the OBR forecasts.”

Alex Burghart, shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Sir Keir Starmer: “These briefings have affected not only the integrity of the fiscal process, but the rights of Members of Parliament and more importantly the lives of working people.”

Andy Haldane, former chief economist at the Bank of England, said an “inquiry into this Budget is needed, regulatory or Parliamentary”.

However, Reeves has backed her decisions, telling Channel 4 News last night that an investigation was not necessary. On Sky News, when asked whether she had lied, the Chancellor replied: “Of course I didn’t.”

In an interview with the BBC, when asked whether she had “misled people in the run-up to the Budget”, she insisted: “No, I do not accept that at all.”