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Ms Reeves is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a black hole in the public finances as she delivers her second budget.
PaWednesday 26 November 2025 11:37 GMT
open image in galleryChancellor Rachel Reeves poses outside 11 Downing Street, London, with her ministerial red box, before delivering her Budget in the House of Commons (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a black hole in the public finances when she delivers her second budget in the House of Commons.
Ms Reeves has said the Budget will focus on three priorities: cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt.
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she 'will take the fair and necessary choices to deliver on our promise of change' when she delivers the Budget in the House of Commons
- The Chancellor is reportedly going to adopt what is being called a 'smorgasbord' approach to raising taxes at the Budget
- The National Living Wage will rise from next April by 4.1% to £12.71 an hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over
- The National Minimum Wage rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour
The Chancellor is said to be facing a more difficult economic outlook in the medium term, with reports that the Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded its growth forecast for 2026 and every other year before the next election due in 2029.
Ahead of the statement in the Commons, it was announced that the National Living Wage will rise from next April by 4.1% to £12.71 an hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over, and the National Minimum Wage rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour.
Hover over this interactive graphic to see how much the minimum wage has increased by since 1999.
Elsewhere, mayors in England will be given the power to impose a “modest” charge on visitors staying in hotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses and holiday lets – dubbed a tourist tax.
The money raised is intended to be invested in transport, infrastructure and the visitor economy to potentially attract more visitors.
11.35am
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just emerged from 11 Downing Street with the famous red box on Budget day.
11.30am
Rachel Reeves acknowledged people are “angry at unfairness” in the British economy in a filmed address ahead of the Budget.
The Chancellor said the Government had started to see results in the past year, with “wages rising faster than inflation, hospital waiting lists coming down and our economy growing faster and stronger than people expected”.
“But I know there is more to do,” she said.
“I know that the cost of living is still bearing down on family finances, I know that people feel frustrated at the pace of change, or angry at the unfairness in our economy.
“I have to be honest that the damage done from austerity, a chaotic Brexit and the pandemic were worse than we thought.”
