Chancellor Rachel Reeves set to unveil much-anticipated UK budget

Rachel Reeves is set to unveil her second, much-anticipated UK budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

The chancellor told MPs on Monday night that the Budget will focus on three priorities: “Cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt.”

In a last minute call for unity, Reeves suggested that Labour backbenchers are likely to be content with 95% of the Budget, but she also hinted at difficult political decisions yet to be announced.

She also described the Budget as a “package” not a “pick ‘n’ mix”, and she urged her fellow Labour MPs to back the whole thing rather than single out parts they dislike for criticism.

There is wide speculation that Labour is planning to raise taxes on Wednesday in an effort to bridge a multibillion-pound gap in Government spending plans.

Reeves was previously expected to hike income taxes, but she has reportedly U-turned on those plans thanks to improved economic forecasts.

However, the chancellor is still said to be facing a more challenging economic outlook in the medium term, , and shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly has predicted “a whole load of stealth taxes”.

“What we’re seeing from the Labour Party is these weird contortions because Rachel Reeves is trying to ramp up taxes,” Cleverly told Times Radio.

“The so-called promises that she and Keir Starmer made during the election are boxing her in.

“So I suspect what we’re going to see in [Wednesday’s] Budget is a whole load of stealth taxes, a whole load of ways to try and squeeze more money out of hardworking people, including people who don’t live in mansions, but they just live in family houses that happen now to have increased in value.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has called the Budget “a moment to restore confidence and put this Labour government back on track”.

He previously urged Reeves to use her budget to abolish the two-child benefit cap in an effort to confront child poverty and to lower energy bills nationwide.

“This has to be a Labour budget, with Labour choices, and Labour values at its heart,” Sarwar said.