8 d. ago It's not just the country that's in the red! Reeves and Starmer see personal ratings plunge to new record lows after Budget lies scandal

YouGov research found just 18 per cent of the public now have a positive view of the PM, his worst score so far.

Politics

1 week ago DAN HODGES: Reeves' attack dog berated me for saying she lied about the Budget. But even Larry the Downing Street cat knows I'm right

'May I ask the Chancellor a simple question? Did she at any point authorise or allow confidential details of the Budget or the forecast to be briefed to the Press - yes or no?' 'No,' she replied.

Events

2 w. ago Found another black hole, Chancellor? Reeves says she 'reserves the right' to hammer Britain with MORE taxes as she is grilled by MPs over Budget lies scandal

Rachel Reeves pointedly refused to repeat the explicit guarantee she gave - and then broke - in the wake of her first eye-watering raid last year.

Economics

2 w. ago Now shameless Rachel Reeves moans there were 'too many leaks' about Budget as she tells MPs she's hunting for a mole (but it definitely wasn't her)

Rachel Reeves insisted she was 'frustrated' and is now 'doing something about it' by launching an official probe into who was responsible.

Politics

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves escapes ministerial ethics probe over Budget lies as standards tsar rejects Farage's demand for Chancellor to be investigated

Reform leader Nigel Farage had demanded the Chancellor be investigated for saying there was a black hole in the public finances of more than £20billion, which it later emerged did not exist.

Politics

2 w. ago Revealed: The junior chess champion whose British under 14 title 'was falsely stolen by Rachel Reeves'

The Chancellor has often boasted about her chess prowess - and claimed that she was crowned British girls under 14 champion back in 1993.

Politics

3 w. ago Now Rachel Reeves' claim to be a junior chess champion is called into question days after her Budget lies

The Chancellor told the Guardian directly in 2023 that she was the British U-14 girls champion, and the claim has appeared in profiles of the Labour MP since at least 2011.

Politics

3 w. ago Starmer accused of forcing out OBR head for 'telling the truth' about Reeves' Budget lies in PMQs hammering

In bitter clashes at PMQs, Kemi Badenoch repeatedly battered the PM over the chaos engulfing the fiscal package.

Politics

3 w. ago Now Rachel Reeves's claim to be a junior chess champion is called into question days after her Budget lies

The Chancellor told the Guardian directly in 2023 that she was the British U-14 girls champion, and the claim has appeared in profiles of the Labour MP since at least 2011.

Politics

3 w. ago Now Rachel Reeves' claim to be a junior chess queen is challenged by former champ turned finance professor who says she overstated achievement

The Chancellor told the Guardian directly in 2023 that she was the British U-14 girls champion, and the claim has appeared in profiles of the Labour MP since at least 2011.

Politics

3 w. ago Fear of facing the future has British politics stuck in the past | Rafael Behr

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves claim to be dealing with the world as it is, but their choices betray yearning for a world that has disappearedHollywood has stopped betting on original ideas. Sequels and remakes dominate the box office. Among this year’s Christmas movie releases are Zootropolis 2 (the first Zootropolis came out in 2016), Avatar: Fire and Ash (third in a series that began in 2009), and Wicked: For Good (part two of the adaptation of a musical that premiered in 2003).New stories are risky. It is safer to retell old ones. British politics feels similarly afflicted by paralysis of the imagination, intimidated by change, stuck in a narrative loop.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago John Swinney ‘lied & breached ministerial code’ claims rivals as they call for probe

JOHN Swinney should face a probe into whether his own budget “lies” have breached the ministerial code, the Tories demanded. The First Minister has repeatedly refused to admit the SNP breached their 2021 election promise to freeze income tax rates and bands, despite hiking the levies twice. The Scottish Tories have now written to the...

Politics

3 w. ago Rachel Reeves given important backing after claims she 'lied' to public ahead of Budget

A top official from the Office for Budget Responsibility has agreed Chancellor Rachel Reeves was faced with having to make "very difficult choices"

Politics

3 w. ago Will scapegoated OBR chief wield the knife on Reeves? Richard Hughes 'knows where bodies are buried' as Chancellor fights to cling on over Budget lies

Speculation is swirling about Richard Hughes' intentions after he dramatically quit as the head of the OBR following months of tensions with the Chancellor.

Events

3 w. ago The most misleading thing about Rachel Reeves’s budget? Who it was really for | Aditya Chakrabortty

Labour backbenchers have been cheering it as a win for the most vulnerable in socety. In fact it was aimed at the bond marketsThe charge is a grave one: that Rachel Reeves has just lied to Britons, spooking them into paying billions in extra taxes that she can splash out on higher benefits. However hyperbolic, this isn’t the usual Westminster sparring; this time, someone might get hurt. A week ago, critics of Reeves and Keir Starmer were, rightly, calling their budget “chaotic”. Today, it’s denounced as lies, and Kemi Badenoch is demanding the chancellor quit. It’s an accusation that demands straightforward answers, so let me give mine. Did the chancellor tell lies? On the available evidence, no. There were no whoppers, no falsehoods, no porkies. But despite Starmer’s comments yesterday, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see here and we can all move along. Reeves did mislead the public about the factors shaping her decisions. Was it all to funnel cash to “benefits street”, as the...

Politics

3 w. ago Lying Rachel finds her 'fall guy': OBR chief who exposed Chancellor's lies QUITS over shambolic leak of Budget 

In a letter to the Chancellor and the House of Commons' Treasury Committee on Monday, Mr Hughes said he was taking 'full responsibility' for the embarrassing error.

Politics

3 w. ago Did Rachel Reeves lie to justify her £26billion Budget tax raid?

The Chancellor is facing calls to resign over misleading the public and Cabinet minister over the state of Britain’s finances

Economics

3 w. ago What lies beneath: How Rachel Reeves and her Treasury warned of a Budget black hole to justify tax rises

There are calls for the Chancellor to quit after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) watchdog revealed it had privately told her there was no huge black hole in the nation's books.

Events

3 w. ago Did Rachel Reeves really lie to justify her £26billion Budget tax raid?

The Chancellor is facing calls to resign over misleading the public and Cabinet minister over the state of Britain’s finances

Economics

3 w. ago Budget 'lies' storm: Starmer grilled on whether Reeves misled public and Cabinet over nation's finances

The row threatens to overshadow the Prime Minister’s attempts to get people to focus on the ‘substance’ of the Government’s spending and reform plans

Economics