The chancellor has confirmed both tax rises and spending cuts are options as she aims to give herself more financial breathing space in November's Budget. Speaking at a gathering of business leaders in Saudi Arabia, Rachel Reeves said she wanted to ensure the UK had "sufficient headroom" to provide resilience against future shocks. The implication is that the £9.9bn buffer she allowed herself in last year's budget is not sufficient to provide resilience against changing circumstances. Reeves did not rule out the possibility of tax rises when asked if she was considering them ahead of the Budget, adding that economic growth would be "a big part of the Budget story". "But we are looking, of course, at tax and spending to ensure that we both have resilience against future shocks by ensuring we've got sufficient headroom, and also just ensuring that those fiscal rules are adhered to," she said in an address at Fortune Magazine's global forum in Riyadh.
Published: October 27, 2025 3:37 pm
Source: BBC — Read original