Senior minister defends Rachel Reeves over claims she misled cabinet on tax rises

Senior furniture curate Darren Jones has said helium does not consciousness misled by Rachel Reeves "in the slightest" pursuing claims she told the furniture determination was a spread successful nationalist finances to warrant taxation rises.

Mr Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, told Mornings with Ridge and Frost the chancellor was "right each the mode done that we needed to rise much wealth than was available... done the OBR forecast".

Some ministers person told The Times Ms Reeves did not archer the furniture "the reality" of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts.

But asked if helium felt misled by the chancellor, Mr Jones said: "No, not successful the slightest.

"The chancellor didn't accidental thing of the kind."

Two days aft past Wednesday's fund - erstwhile Ms Reeves acceptable retired a record-breaking £26bn successful taxation rises -,the OBR took the antithetic measurement of revealing the figures it sent to the Treasury to dispel suggestions of a important spread successful nationalist finances.

The chancellor and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had spent weeks saying nationalist finances were successful specified a dire authorities they would request to interruption their manifesto pledges and rise taxes.

Ms Reeves is present facing accusations she lied to the public, with absorption parties demanding she reply an urgent question successful parliament implicit their claims they misled voters and the markets.

On Sunday, erstwhile asked by Sky's Trevor Phillips if she lied, Ms Reeves said: "Of people I didn't."

Mr Jones defended the chancellor, saying the OBR's calculations did not instrumentality into relationship fiscal headroom. Ms Reeves had been "very clear" this needed to beryllium accrued to woody with immoderate shocks.

The erstwhile Chief Secretary to the Treasury said the calculations produced by the OBR moved astir up of the fund and "you don't really cognize the last fig until the precise extremity of the process".

Mr Jones added: "The chancellor was precise wide we needed much [headroom] than we've had successful the past, truthful she took it from £10bn to implicit £20bn.

"That means that if there's a daze successful the future, we person much currency enactment speech to beryllium capable to respond to it."

Read more:
Reeves says 'of people I didn't' prevarication astir budget
Reeves accused of deliberately making UK finances look worse

The OBR told the chancellor connected 31 October the spending spread had closed and the authorities would beryllium moving a £4.2bn surplus.

That was a fewer days earlier she suggested astatine a quality league she was apt to person to interruption a manifesto committedness and rise income taxation rates to unafraid the UK's economical aboriginal - a program that was dropped earlier the existent budget.

By 26 November, the time of the budget, the headroom had risen to £21.7bn, the OBR's forecast states.

On Monday, Sir Keir volition present a code successful which helium is expected to support the decisions made successful the fund and accidental it "moves guardant the government's programme of nationalist renewal".