Autumn budget 2025: Live updates as Rachel Reeves insists tax hikes are ‘fair and necessary’ 

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 the other 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:

The Office for Budget Responsibility is set to release its latest forecast after the Chancellor’s speech today.

Sources have told Sky News that growth predictions will be downgraded for 2026 as well as for the remaining years of the current Parliament.

The OBR is an independent was set up in 2010 by ex-Chancellor George Osborne following the 2008 financial crisis.

The body provides an assessment of Britain’s public finances, and releases five-year forecasts with the spring statement and Budget biannually.

The most recent downgrade is believed to be due to an anticipated drop in UK productivity as a result readjustment of previously incorrect estimates.

But, the Chancellor’s decision will also likely to receive blame

When asked by Sky News today if the Budget was designed so Sir Keir Starmer would avoid a leadership challenge, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones, said:

No we have another three years another three Budget’s to go until the 2029 election.

This is a budget dealing with the people’s concerns and the world as we find it.

The Chancellor has made no secret of the fact that its a challenging budget due to whats going on whether its on cost of government debt or the changing global tarrifs or those kinds of issues

But no this is a budget which meets the needs of the country and helps deliver on our promise of change.

A tractor has been seen making its way to Westminster this morning ahead of the Chancellor’s budget as they prepare to protest against inheritance tax.

By Richard Marsden

Farmers planning a huge Budget day demonstration against the family farm tax on Wednesday have been banned from bringing their tractors – prompting fury and accusations of two-tier policing.

At the 11th hour, the Metropolitan Police announced the protest against the ending of inheritance relief will be restricted to a small, designated area of Whitehall.

The gathering was intended by organisers to have been ‘one of the most striking rural demonstrations in years’ with hundreds of tractors taking part.

Police made the restriction on the grounds the tractor protest could ‘result in serious disruption to the life of the community’.

The move against the demonstration – being organised by Berkshire Farmers but involving farmers from every corner of the country – was met with fury and accusations of ‘two-tier policing’.

One farmer said: ‘The event had permission and all previous events have been peaceful, tidy and with no arrests’.

He asked: ‘Is this two-tier policing to avoid embarrassment to (Rachel) Reeves on budget day?’

READ MORE:

Rachel Reeves told Labour MPs that among her priorities for the Budget was cutting the cost of living on Monday.

To that end, she is expected to scrap the two-child benefit cap, a move estimated to cost between £3 billion and £3.5 billion by the end of the Parliament.

Ms Reeves is also mulling over a continued freeze in fuel duty, set to cost a further £3 billion, according to the Times.

Yesterday, she announced she would accept the latest recommendations of the Low Pay Commission to raise the minimum wage, the equivalent of a £900-a-year pay rise for those over the age of 21 in full-time work.

Meanwhile, farmer are set to take to the streets of Westminster on Budget day in a protest about inheritance tax, but have been banned by the Metropolitan Police from bringing their tractors.

Rachel Reeves is reportedly going to adopt what is being called a ‘smorgasbord’ approach to raising taxes at the Budget.

It comes after the Chancellor released plans to hike the headline rate of income tax earlier this month.

This would have been a policy which would have broken a Labour manifesto pledge, amid improved economic forecasting.

However, the Chancellor still intends to pursue a strategy of increasing her fiscal headroom, a buffer on her self-imposed borrowing rules.

She has ruled out major spending cuts to achieve this, and so tax rises are set to be her main approach to closing the gap in the so-called black hole in public finances.

While income tax rates are no longer set to be raised, a freeze on income tax thresholds is apparently being considered.

This would see more people dragged into paying tax for the first time or shifted into a higher rate as wages increase.

Ms Reeves is also said to be considering limits on how much employees can stash in their pensions under salary sacrifice schemes before it becomes subject to national insurance.

Also among the dozen tax rises reportedly being considered are a so-called ‘mansion tax’ on properties worth more than £2 million, a gambling levy, and pay-per-mile charging for electric vehicles.

Around 11.15 – Chancellor Rachel Reeves will leave Downing Street and prop up her red box.

12pm – Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will face PMQs at Westminster

12.30pm – Reeves will announce the Budget

Around 1.20pm – Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will deliver a response to the 2025 Budget

2.30pm – The Independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will have a news conference regarding the economy

Today, the Chancellor has insisted she will use her Budget to introduce measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, as the beleaguered Government hopes to keep backbench Labour MPs on side amid an expected series of tax rises.

Ms Reeves has also vowed to reduce the costs of Government debt and is expected to take steps to increase the leeway above her borrowing plans, as she attempts to maintain fiscal credibility.

She also promised to create a Budget for the ‘British people’ to build ‘a fairer, stronger and more secure Britain’.

Today I will take the fair and necessary choices to deliver on our promise of change,’ Ms Reeves said ahead of the Budget.

‘I will not return Britain back to austerity, nor will I lose control of public spending with reckless borrowing.

And I will push ahead with the biggest drive for growth in a generation.”