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Live: Rachel Reeves set to deliver first budget with tax hikes expected
30 October 2024, 07:22 | Updated: 30 October 2024, 09:22
Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour's first budget in 15 years as tax hikes are expected.
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Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour's long-awaited Budget today as she sets out her plan to raise revenue and promote economic growth.
Ms Reeves, who will become the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer to deliver the Budget on Wednesday, is expected to prioritise fixing the NHS and growing the economy in tomorrow's announcement.
She will tell the House of Commons from the despatch box that there are "no shortcuts" to driving the economic growth Labour has promised to deliver other than to invest.
Ms Reeves is also expected to promise to the country that the "prize on offer" for Labour’s plans is "immense" after drawing criticisms for trailed policies ahead of the Budget.
The Government has already confirmed a swathe of policies, including that it will raise the cap on bus fares from £2 to £3, raise National Insurance hike for employers and impose VAT on private schools.
Follow our live blog for all the latest news and analysis and in-depth covering of the first Labour Budget.
How long will the budget speech be?
The budget speech will start at 12:30 UK time and last around an hour.
The longest budget speech in history was William Gladstone in 1853 which was four hours and 45 minutes.
Benjamin Disraeli spoke for five hours in 1852 - but that included a break.
The former chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, spoke for 65 minutes when delivering the Spring 2024 budget.
Rachel Reeves vows to put 'more pounds in people’s pockets' in Budget despite admitting tough decisions to come
Rachel Reeves has vowed to put 'more pounds in people’s pockets' despite warning of tough decisions to come.
Ms Reeves, who will become the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer to deliver the Budget on Wednesday, is expected to prioritise fixing the NHS and growing the economy in tomorrow's announcement.
She will tell the House of Commons from the despatch box that there are "no shortcuts" to driving the economic growth Labour has promised to deliver other than to invest.
Ms Reeves is also expected to promise to the country that the "prize on offer" for Labour’s plans is "immense" after drawing criticisms for trailed policies ahead of the Budget.
Labour MP Torsten Bell says the budget will 'set the agenda for the years to come'
Torsten Bell, MP for Swansea West, told Nick Ferrari about what to expect from the budget.
He said: "You'll see the Chancellor making some big choices to invest in our future."
Bell believes that the first budget of new government is always big and it will "set the agenda for the years to come".
He said Reeves will have to put public finances on a 'sustainable footing'.
Bell praised the confirmed increase in the National Living Wage, which will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 - giving more than three million workers a pay boost.
Cabinet members are making their way to Downing Street
The first photos of cabinet members arriving in Downing Street are rolling in as Rachel Reeves prepares to speak to them ahead of the Budget.
No thriving NHS without social care investment, disability charity says
This is not the time to cut benefits for disabled people, said Richard Kramer, Chief Executive of Sense, the national disability charity.
He told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "We want a fairer benefit system that recognizes that life costs more if you're disabled. We need to reform social care. We need more support to help disabled people pay their energy bills.
"We've seen some government thinking on this but no real meaningful action. What we're concerned about are rumors that the government is going to restrict benefits to disabled people, and that's going to make life much harder.
"We shouldn't be making savings at the expense of disabled people."
We’re hours away from Rachel Reeves delivering this government’s first budget but today’s schedule will look similar to budgets past.
Here’s what to watch out for:
Prime Minister Keir Starmer chairs cabinet at 8.30 am
Rachel Reeves will arrive at the treasury around 11 am for the customary red box photoshoot
Prime Minister’s Questions is at noon.
The budget speech starts at 12.30 pm
Conservative leader Rishi Sunak will respond around 1.30pm, at the same time as the budget documents drop.
The Office for Budget Responsibility will brief the press on their budget analysis at 2.30 pm
Budget will deliver on promise of change -Reeves
Everything we know about the Budget so far and what it will mean for you
Political Editor Natasha Clark has put together a guide on today's budget to get you up to speed on what we know and what it will mean for you.
CONFIRMED: £2 bus fare cap becomes £3 bus fare cap
CONFIRMED: New funding to kickstart delivery of two million extra NHS appointments
CONFIRMED: Increase to National Living Wage
CONFIRMED: Rachel Reeves to rip up fiscal rules to borrow more
CONFIRMED: £240 million Get Britain Working package
CONFIRMED: £1.4bn for crumbling schools
CONFIRMED: £500m boost to the Affordable Homes Programme
EXPECTED: National Insurance hike for employers
EXPECTED: VAT on private schools - with exemptions for military kids
EXPECTED: Income tax threshold freeze for another year
EXPECTED: Nom Dom tax loopholes closed
EXPECTED: HS2 confirmed to go to Euston
EXPECTED: Capital gains and inheritance tax hikes
EXPECTED: Sneaky stealth taxes of alcohol, cigarettes and vape duties up
Labour MPs nervous ahead of 'tough decisions' in Wednesday's Budget
They know how big a moment this is.
They’ve waited 116 days for it, after all.
It’s not that all the announcements will be a surprise - they know a great deal about the content already. Let’s face it - after weeks of briefings from the Treasury, we all do.
The trepidation is caused by the Prime Minister's promise that this Budget will embrace the "harsh light of fiscal reality".
Code for: tax rises are coming to prevent austerity.
There is genuine fear - from MPs and from business - about how the expected National Insurance employer contribution will land.
At Labour’s weekly meeting of MPs yesterday - one backbencher asked the Chief Secretary to the Treasury what would be done to stop small businesses feeling like they have been chopped off at their knees. Darren Jones told the MPs they would be pleased when they heard the full plans.
But it’s not just the measures that are making these Labour backbenchers nervous. It’s also what the Budget will say about who this Government is, what it's for, and where they are going.
One Labour grandee told me they doubt whether the Prime Minister and those around him had enough political nous. They think Sir Keir has outsourced too much to his Chancellor.
Everyone - even the Starmer and Reeves loyalists - know they’ve got a very tricky task tomorrow.
“It’s been such a delicate ship to steer through such a thorny canal and I think they’ve just about got it to the place they wanted to in the run in," someone close to the Chancellor said.
One Labour MP told me that the test tomorrow will be to “divide between long term investment and short term protection”.
“There will always be risk, but Labour must have a response for those who are subjected to inequality.”
It’s been an unusual run up - because we know so much. Budgets are usually devised in dark rooms with not as much leaked out ahead of time.
But sometimes - those Budgets have gone wrong - like George Osborne’s in 2012. He had to u-turn on his plot to tax food that is designed to cool down - because he hadn’t considered that this would affect pasties.
So perhaps the fact that we know so much already will mean fewer surprises in the backlash too.
Good morning.
Good morning and welcome back to LBC's Budget live blog.
We'll have the latest budget news and analysis throughout the day right here.