Rachel Reeves says she’s going to ‘do what is correct, not what’s common’ in uncommon televised speech amid hypothesis she is making ready to hike earnings tax: Live updates

Politicians who continue to push for ‘easy answers’ are irresponsible, as she says she is looking to make serious ‘long term solutions’ and move away from ‘sticking plasters’.

Reeves says £1 in every £10 of taxpayers money is spent on debt interest.

She says the UK’s national debt now stands at £2.6tn – or 94% of the national income.

‘No accounting trick can change the basic fact’ that there are limits to how much the government can borrow, she adds.

Rachel Reeves has blamed the previous Conservative government’s ‘rushed and ill-conceived Brexit’ for Britain’s struggling economy.

Taking aim at the previous government, the Chancellor said austerity policies acted as a ‘hammer blow’ to the UK’s finances and ‘gutted’ the country’s public services.

The years that followed were characterised by instability and indecision.

She also adds the Conservatives were ‘underprepared’ for the Covid pandemic which further weakened the economy

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Budget would be focused on “getting inflation falling” and “creating the conditions for interest rate cuts”.

Ms Reeves said:

The choices I make in this Budget, this month, will be focused on getting inflation falling and creating the conditions for interest rate cuts to support economic growth and improve the cost of living.

The truth is that previous governments have not adequately faced up to these challenges.

Too often, political convenience has been prioritised over economic imperative.

The decision to pursue a policy of austerity after the financial crisis dealt a hammer blow to our economy, gutting our public services and severing the flows of investment that would have put our country on a path to recovery.

The years that followed were characterised by instability and indecision, with crucial capital investment continually sacrificed, and hard decisions put off again and again.

And then a rushed and ill-conceived Brexit that brought further disruption as businesses trying to trade were faced with extra costs and extra paperwork.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves talked up the need to ‘invest’ as she took the highly unusual step of teeing up her fiscal package with a speech in Downing Street .

She stressed international headwinds and rising costs of servicing the debt mountain – but squarely blamed Brexit and Tory austerity, suggesting ‘longer-term factors’ meant the economy ‘is not working as it should’.

In a clear softening up exercise ahead of her announcements on November 26, Ms Reeves said there is a ‘clear choice’ between ‘investment and hope, or cuts and division’.

She insisted she must deal with the world ‘as it is’ rather than how she ‘wishes it could be’.

The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer has said that if Reeves breaks her promise at the budget then ‘Starmer must sack her’.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said despite the UK’s ‘considerable economic strengths’ it had been hit by a series of global challenges and persistent problems with productivity.

The continual threat of tariffs has dragged on global confidence, deterring business investment and dampening growth.

Inflation has been too slow to come down, as supply chains continue to be volatile, meaning the costs of everyday essentials remain too high.

And the cost of government borrowing has increased around the world, a shift that Britain, with our high levels of debt left by the previous government, has been particularly exposed to

Ahead of her budget the Chancellor has said she wants the public to better understand why she has made the decisions she has.

My Budget, led by this government style of fairness and opportunity and focused entirely on the priorities of the British people.

Protecting our NHS, reducing our national debt, and improving the cost of living. There has been a lot speculation about the choices that I will make, I understand that.

These are important choices that will shape the future of our country for years to come. I want people to understand the circumstances we are facing, the principles guiding my choices, and why I believe they will be the right choices.

The Chancellor told Britain after her last Budget, which raised our taxes to an all-time high, that she wasn’t coming back for more.

Rachel Reeves is a liar, she’s incompetent and in my view, she won’t last and it’s time for her to go.

Kicking off her speech Reeves has blamed the Conservatives for the state of the economy.

She blamed ‘Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget’ and the ‘£22billion black hole left by the previous government’ as key reasons for the problems facing Labour.

At the Budget last year, I fixed the foundations, dealing with the aftermath of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget and the £22 billion black hole in the public finances left by the previous government.

I put our public finances back on a firm footing, provided an urgent cash injection into our faltering public services and began rebuilding our economy.

Rachel Reeves is looking at more than a hundred tax and spending measures as she desperately tries to balance the books at the Budget.

The Chancellor is considering a blizzard of measures targeting the ‘wealthy’ as she scrambles to drum up huge sums.

Treasury officials are said to have been ordered to find ways of getting more money out of everyone with incomes of more than £45,000 a year.

Insiders claim that only Brits below that threshold – the bottom two-thirds of earners – are being defined as ‘working people’ to receive protection from Labour’s tax assault.

That effectively brands the top third of earners as ‘wealthy’ – encompassing jobs such as HGV drivers, teachers and head chefs at the Wagamama restaurant chain.

Rachel Reeves must put up taxes by £26billion and break her pledge not to put up income taxes, Labour’s favourite think-tank has warned.

The Resolution Foundation said the scale of the hikes needed meant the Chancellor should ignore the election promise.

It suggested that, even though the financial black hole facing Ms Reeves may be ‘less daunting’ than some fear, she should break the pledge in order to fund the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap as well as Ed Miliband’s net zero plans.

But speculation that the pledge will be abandoned has been growing especially after the PM refused to say recently whether he stood by it.

In the 2024 election manifesto, the party pledged:

We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible.

Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.

However with a suspected £50billion black hole to be filled, it is expected that Reeves will u-turn on this promise.

Welcome to the Daily Mail’s live blog on the Chancellor’s pre-budget speech.

Rachel Reeves is set to issue a fresh tax warning this morning, amid growing speculation she is preparing to tear up Labour ‘s manifesto by hiking income tax.

The Chancellor will speak outside of Downing Street today at 8:10am to address ‘speculation’ about the contents of her November 26 Budget – when she is expected to raise taxes by up to £30billion.