Kemi Badenoch defends budget speech attack on Rachel Reeves, saying ‘she started it’ – UK politics live

Conservative leader said the chancellor acts ‘like she’s still at school’ and claimed that her speech was reactiveThe Office for Budget Responsibility has said that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was not at risk of breaking her fiscal rules because of its productivity forecast downgrade.In a highly unusual move, Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, has sent a letter to the Commons Treasury committee, giving details of the five assessments it sent to the Treasury ahead of the budget estimating whether or not the fiscal rules would be met.Before any policy measures, Rachel Reeves was forecast to be running a small current budget surplus in her key year of 2029–30 and therefore meeting her fiscal rules. No fiscal repair job needed. Even after accounting for the U-turns on winter fuel payments and disability benefits since the spring, she was running only a very small deficit. Continue reading...