Overview
- With days to go, official data show October public sector borrowing at £17.4 billion, reinforcing pressure to address an estimated £50 billion shortfall.
- Reeves has abandoned a headline rise in income tax rates, while reports indicate she is weighing threshold freezes, property levies, higher gambling duties and pension relief changes.
- Confirmed measures include extending the £9.90 NHS prescription charge freeze for another year and empowering Border Force and HMRC to seize illegal vapes, issue £10,000 fines and use QR codes to verify legal products.
- The chancellor’s comment that she is “sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor” triggered partisan criticism and a public debate, with some readers calling attacks on her sexist.
- Keir Starmer declined 12 times to rule out tax moves that could test Labour’s manifesto, as advisers and former officials warned credibility is at stake after leaks, reversals and ongoing uncertainty over the final package.