Autumn price range 2025: Live updates as Rachel Reeves insists tax hikes are ‘truthful and mandatory’ 

Adding to Labour’s woes on budget day, security staff in Parliament have this morning launched a 24-hour strike in a dispute over terms and conditions.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said more than 300 of its members are involved in the row, which also saw them take action in September..

They walked out at 7am, mounting picket lines outside Parliament which were expected to be joined by a number of MPs.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said:

No one deserves to have their contracts effectively torn up and rewritten.

These members have been treated disgracefully, despite working day and night to ensure the safety of MPs, Lords, staff and visitors in the UK’s national Parliament building.

PCS demands that the employer comes to the table to talk, to listen to our members’ serious concerns, and to guarantee a fair settlement.

A Parliament spokesperson said its security staff are ‘valued colleagues’, but added that the decision to take further strike action was ‘disappointing’.

In 1975, the UK economy was caught in a ‘doom loop’, with high inflation and economic stagnation pulling the country into recession.

And with the Budget just hours away, the Daily Mail’s Andrew Pierce believes history could repeat itself.

Watch the video below to hear his thoughts on why the country is heading for another potential crash.

Cabinet Members have begun arriving at Downing Street this morning ahead of Rachel Reeves second ever budget.

They include Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband.

Ms Reeves herself is still in No 11 and will not appear in front of the media until around 11am, when she will pose for photographs with the coveted red box.

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

Speculation had been mounting that Ms Reeves would break Labour’s manifesto pledge not to raise income tax.

A leak to the Financial Times later revealed that the proposal to increase income tax rates for the first time in 50 years had been dropped.

Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones, who has been doing the media rounds today, took aim at those briefing against the Government in the lead up to Ms Reeves’ 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.

But, look, it’s for people to speculate, for commentators to comment, for column writers to write columns. I can’t tell them what to write.

He said he was ‘very happy to read people the riot act’, and when asked if ‘parliamentary colleagues’ had been on the receiving end, he said: ‘I think so.’

Another of the levies expected to be announced in Rachel Reeves’ Budget today is a pay-per-mile taxation for electric vehicles.

Reports suggest the Chancellor will propose that EV drivers are charged 3p for every mile they cover annually from 2028.

This will add to the current £195-a-year VED rate electric car drivers pay as of April 2025 under new measures that ended EV exemption from the road tax.

The motor industry has criticised the supposed move, saying it provides confusing and mixed messaging around the Government’s ambitions to decarbonise road traffic – and could derail the transition to EVs entirely.

What Car? said the scheme threatens to ‘kill electric car demand’ after its poll of 4,368 in-market car buyers revealed that more than half would avoid purchasing an EV if pay-per-mile taxation is rubberstamped.

What Car? consumer editor Claire Evans said the Government is sending ‘terrible mixed messaging’ to the nation’s motorists.

Introducing an additional tax on EVs won’t only be unpopular, it will clearly make many drivers who are intending to buy an EV rethink their plans.

Coming hot on the heels of the Government’s Electric Car Grant, which stimulated demand for EVs, it sends a terrible mixed message.

With the budget just hours away, Simon Lambert from the Daily Mail’s ThisIsMoney team has delved beyond the headlines to outline how potential tax hikes could impact you.

Watch the video below to learn more.

Keir Starmer has released this statement on X this morning ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget.

Earlier this month, Rachel Reeves dropped plans to hike the headline rate of income tax after receiving economic forecasts which were not quite as grim as first feared.

This would have broken a Labour manifesto pledge not to increase taxes on ‘working people’, including National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT.

Instead, Ms Reeves is expected to extend a freeze on personal tax thresholds for a further two years.

While this itself is not an increase in taxes, it would see more people dragged into paying tax for the first time or shifted into a higher rate as wages increase.

A convoy of tractors has been spotted in central London today as part of a planned protest by farmers in Whitehall, ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Budget today.

They appear to have defied the Metropolitan Police’s order to prevent protesters from bringing tractors to the planned action.

‘This decision was taken due to the serious disruption they may cause to the local area, including businesses, emergency services and Londoners going about their day,’ the force said in an earlier statement.

Those taking part in the protest have also been told to remain in an area on Richmond Terrace in Whitehall.

If you’re just joining us this morning, there has already been plenty of Budget day news to sink your teeth into.

A brutal assault on pension tax reliefs and a ‘mansion tax’ are among some moves expected in the critical package. And as we reported earlier, Ms Reeves has already announced a hike in the minimum wage.

Read this pre-Budget piece from the Daily Mail’s UK Political Editor James Tapsfield to get up to date on all you need to know before the Chancellor unveils her proposals at 12.30pm today.

Amid speculation that Rachel Reeves could announce a cut in the cash ISA limit in today’s Budget, one expert has warned it would not necessarily persuade people to move their money into investments.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that the annual cash ISA limit could be reduced to £12,000.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, (above) said:

We need an investment culture in the UK, and some of the money that has been saved in cash Isas would work harder for people if it was invested instead, but there’s no evidence that cutting the cash Isa allowance would encourage them to make the change.

There will be people for whom cash Isas are the most sensible home for their money, especially if they’re saving for the short-term, have significant sums of cash and are a higher earner.

When (Hargreaves Lansdown) surveyed clients as to what they would do in the event of a cut, they were equally likely to say a cut in the allowance would mean saving elsewhere as they were to say they would invest instead.

There will be those who should be investing instead, but the game changer here will be changes in the pipeline to allow businesses to provide more targeted support and give people the help they need to take advantage of the enormous growth potential of investment. It’s the carrot that’s going to be effective here: not the stick.

In case you missed it last night, Rachel Reeves announced a ‘bonkers’ inflation-busting minimum wage hike that will be included in today’s budget.

The Chancellor revealed that the national minimum wage for 18-20 year olds will rise by 8.5 per cent to £10.85 per hour from next April. For 16-17 year olds it will go up by 6 per cent to £8.

But almost immediately after announcing the proposal, a chorus of business leaders and economists warned it would simply result in more young people being left on the jobs scrapheap as the cost of employing them spirals.

Read the full story from John-Paul Ford Rojas here: