Rachel Reeves has been accused of planning to launch a tax raid on savers, amid reports she is set to cut the tax-free cash ISA limit.
The Chancellor is due to deliver her second budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday, in which she is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a £22bn black hole in the public finances.
Sources familiar with Budget preparations told the Financial Times that Reeves will cut the annual cash ISA limit from £20,000 to £12,000 in order to push more households to invest their savings into the UK stock market.
Opposition leaders have been quick to criticise the plans, with Tory shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride saying: “Hardworking savers shouldn't be facing a tax raid to fund Labour's addiction to ever more welfare spending.”
On Monday, it also emerged that the chancellor is set to hit thousands of Britain’s most expensive properties with a new “mansion tax” levy.
It is one of a series of wealth taxes Ms Reeves is set to unveil, with other measures expected to include a profits tax on gambling companies and a levy on bank profits.
Key Points
- Rachel Reeves set to slash tax-free ISA limit in blow to savers
- Reeves calls for Labour unity ahead of eve of tax-raising Budget
- Chancellor ditches mention of economic growth in speech after dire Budget forecasts
- Reeves set to hit thousands of properties with new mansion tax
- When is the Budget?
Milkshakes and lattes expected to be hit by Government sugar tax
09:16 , Athena StavrouPre-packaged milkshakes and lattes are expected to be hit by the sugar tax in an announcement from the Health Secretary.
Wes Streeting is expected to tell the Commons on Tuesday that the Government will end the exemption for milk-based drinks from the existing tax on sugary drinks.
The move will affect packaged milkshakes and coffees, but not drinks made in cafes and restaurants.
It follows a Government consultation on the issue looking at removing the exemption for milk-based drinks while introducing a “lactose allowance” to account for the natural sugars in the milk component of the drinks.
Ministers have also been looking at removing the exemption for milk substitute drinks with “added sugars” beyond those sugars derived from the principal ingredient, such as oats or rice.
Editorial: Reeves must prove she has a rock-solid plan to free us from this ‘growth crisis’
09:06 , Athena StavrouThe chancellor’s second Budget has been overshadowed by bleak forecasts, but while the OBR’s downgrade exposes the fragility of Labour’s economic promises and the limits of government spin, she must still deliver.
Read our full editorial here:
Reeves must prove she has a rock-solid plan to free us from this ‘growth crisis’
Rachel Reeves set to slash tax-free ISA limit in blow to savers
08:52 , Athena StavrouRachel Reeves is set to cut the annual cash ISA limit from £20,000 to £12,000 in her make-or-break Budget, in what could be seen as a blow to hard-working savers.
The chancellor is hoping to push more households to invest their savings into the UK stock market, as she scrambles to fill her £22bn fiscal black hole.
Sources familiar with Wednesday’s Budget preparations told the Financial Times that Reeves had initially planned to reduce the limit to a £10,000 cap, but raised the figure after months of fierce debate.
A cross-party Treasury select committee report from last month estimated British households have a total of £360 billion tied up in cash ISAs, with many opting for the tax-free accounts over riskier investments in stocks and shares.
Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, money put into stocks and shares ISAs decreased by 9 per cent, while injections into cash ISAs more than doubled.
The chancellor is said to have considered a number of proposals to overhaul the ISA system, including a a ‘Brit ISA’ that would have required a minimum allocation of 20 per cent into UK equities. However, she is said to have dropped the plan following backlash from ISA providers.
Reeves 'relishes' challenge of her job, says minister
08:49 , Athena StavrouWhen is the Budget?
08:34 , Athena StavrouRachel Reeves will deliver her highly anticipated Budget this week.
The chancellor will make her statement in the Commons on Wednesday 26 November.
She will begin after PMQs, which usually finishes at around 12:30pm.
People 'starting to feel' improvement of NHS, minister claims
08:20 , Athena StavrouA health minister said strikes “knock some of that improvement off course” but in the NHS “green shoots are there”, as she was questioned about the prospect of increased health service funding paid for through tax rises.
Asked whether a potential boost to the NHS in the Budget would merely be spent on striking residential doctors, Karin Smyth told Sky News: “The Chancellor protected the NHS and our public services in the last budget and that, as you’ve outlined, does involve those hard choices, but it is yielding results.
“Those waiting lists are coming down by over 200,000, we had more GPs put into post, access is improving. It’s got a long way to go.
“We understand that. It is really difficult. The strikes are really difficult. They do knock some of that improvement off course, but those green shoots are there.
“And I think people are starting to feel that, and staff are starting to feel that.”
'There is a difference for a woman Chancellor,' minister says
07:48 , Tara CobhamRachel Reeves “relishes the challenge” of her role and there is a “difference” from having a female Chancellor, a minister said when asked if she agreed Ms Reeves had been subjected to misogyny.
Asked whether there should be more focus on “competence and success” than “identity politics”, or whether she thought it was true that Ms Reeves had faced misogyny in her role, health minister Karyn Smith told Times Radio: “Look, Rachel is well able to challenge and relishes the challenge that she has got as the first female Chancellor.
“I think both things can be true. I think absolutely, I’m often in a situation where I’m the only woman in the room.
“That happens to Rachel a lot in her world, but all chancellors face a lot of criticism. She’s well up for that challenge, able to face that down.
“I think it is inspirational to lots of young women, particularly she’s the first Chancellor, woman Chancellor in 300 years, something she’s very proud of, and rightly so. With that comes a lot of criticism.
“Every single Chancellor gets criticism… I think there is a difference for a woman Chancellor as well, absolutely, for all women politicians, that not new or unusual.
“But you know, those of us who are in senior positions in politics, we’ve got to crack on with it. We’re focused on it: it is one of those things that you have to deal with.
“I hope it changes – and our job is to inspire another generation, which I know Rachel does do, to to get involved and change that situation.”
Reeves calls for Labour unity ahead of eve of tax-raising Budget
07:25 , Tara CobhamRachel Reeves has urged Labour MPs to back her forthcoming Budget, as the final day before the major Government financial statement dawns.
The Chancellor is due to deliver her second budget in the House of Commons on Wednesday, in which she is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a black hole in the public finances.
Ms Reeves called for unity within the Labour Party as she spoke to restive backbenchers on Monday night, urging them to support her efforts to steer the national economy.
Many Labour MPs are understood to have become increasingly frustrated about the prospect of tax rises on the horizon, amid their party’s opinion poll slump less than two years into a term of government.
At the gathering of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Ms Reeves told MPs that politics is a “team sport”, in an apparent call for unity.
Watch: Reeves recognises cost of living still 'big burden' as inflation dips
06:00 , Nicole Wootton-CaneRecap: Nigel Farage denies allegations of racist comments during his school days
05:00 , Nicole Wootton-CaneNigel Farage has responded to allegations he made racist and antisemitic comments to peers during his time as a schoolboy at Dulwich College.
Allegations published in The Guardian claimed the Reform leader had been behind several incidents of deeply offensive behaviour throughout his teenage years.
Speaking to ITV on Monday, Mr Farage said he had never made racist comments in a “hurtful or insulting way” or with “intent”.
You can read more below...
Nigel Farage responds to schoolboy racism claims
A look at the UK's economic growth ahead of the Budget
04:30 , Athena StavrouThe OBR’s new forecasts on Wednesday are likely to include revised estimates for economic growth in the UK.
Growth in 2025 has slowed as the year has gone on.
The size of the economy grew by 0.7 per cent in January-March, by 0.3 per cent in April-June and by just 0.1 per cent in July-September, according to estimates by the ONS.
In addition, the economy is estimated to have contracted by 0.1 per cent in September, driven by a fall in motor manufacturing due partly to the cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover.
The OBR’s current forecast for growth across the whole of 2025 – published back in March – is 1.0 per cent, rising to 1.9 per cent in 2026.
The UK has recorded annual growth of less than 1 per cent only five times in the past 30 years: in 2008 and 2009 (zero and -4.6 per cent respectively, during the financial crash); 2011 (0.9 per cent), 2020 (-10.0 per cent, during the pandemic) and 2023 (0.3 per cent).
Starmer and Trump did not discuss BBC Panorama fallout in call
04:00 , Athena StavrouSir Keir Starmer ducked raising the legal challenge between Donald Trump and the BBC when he spoke to the US president on Sunday.
The 30-minute call between Mr Trump and the prime minister focused on Ukraine, according to the readout, with sources admitting he did not discuss the BBC.
Sir Keir had been under pressure to intervene over the row between the White House and the BBC after the broadcaster had apologised for the presentation of the US president’s 6 January speech in a Panorama programme and Newsnight report.
But sources now admit that the subject of the BBC was not raised, as Sir Keir instead tried to press the president on his controversial plans for Ukraine.
Cabinet minister admits he does not know his council tax band - recap
03:30 , Athena StavrouThe Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Business secretary Peter Kyle has said he does not know his council tax band, despite reports his government is planning to hike the levy for those in higher brackets.
He told journalists at the CBI conference in London: “I live in a small one bedroom flat in in Hove, I can't even tell you what band I’m in”.
Rachel Reeves could hit more than 100,000 high-value properties with a mansion tax in her Budget on Wednesday as she seeks to raise money to fill a black hole in the nation’s finances.
The chancellor has reportedly scaled back plans for a property tax but is now expected to apply a tax to homes worth more than £2 million, in a move which could raise between £400m and £450m for the Treasury.
Some 2.4 million properties in the top three council tax bands - F, G and H - will be revalued to determine which will be subject to the surcharge, which will be worth an average of £4,500, according to The Times.
Watch: Who will the new mansion tax impact?
02:30 , Athena StavrouComment: The trust factor: why Labour must deliver a Budget that people can believe in
02:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane Labour must deliver a Budget that people can believe in
Reeves to scrap two-child benefit cap
01:00 , Athena StavrouLabour is set to announce an end to the two-child benefit cap at Wednesday’s Budget, following months of intense pressure from backbenchers, campaign groups and political opponents.
The two-child benefit cap prevents parents from claiming universal credit or tax credit for their third child. It was introduced by the Conservatives and came into place in April 2017. It only applies to children who were born after 6 April 2017.
The measure was announced by then-chancellor George Osborne alongside a raft of other changes to the benefits system. The Conservatives said the measures were designed to encourage benefit recipients “to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work”.
Latest official figures show that 1.6 million children are living in families affected by the policy.
Campaigners, charities and politicians from across the spectrum have called on the government to scrap the measure, saying that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day.
Editorial: Reeves must prove she has a rock-solid plan to free us from this ‘growth crisis’
00:00 , Nicole Wootton-Cane Reeves must prove she has a rock-solid plan to free us from this ‘growth crisis’
Sean O'Grady: Reeves’ Robin Hood budget may shore up party support, but not voters’
Monday 24 November 2025 23:30 , Athena Stavrou Reeves’s £15bn child benefit ‘giveaway’ is a gift the public won’t like
Brexit costing UK up to £90bn in lost tax revenue a year, new analysis shows
Monday 24 November 2025 23:00 , Nicole Wootton-CaneBrexit is costing the UK up to £90bn a year in lost tax revenues, a new analysis shows just days before Rachel Reeves prepares to hike levies in her make-or-break Budget.
The average Briton is also thousands of pounds worse off, leading to calls for ministers to “fix our broken relationship with Europe”.
As Ms Reeves sets out her Budget on Wednesday, the government’s official watchdog is also expected to confirm that leaving the European Union has been even more disastrous than previously thought.
Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has this story...
Brexit costing UK up to £90bn in lost tax revenue , new analysis shows
When is the Budget?
Monday 24 November 2025 22:30 , Athena StavrouRachel Reeves will deliver her highly anticipated Budget this week.
The chancellor will make her statement in the Commons on Wednesday 26 November.
She will begin after PMQs, which usually finishes at around 12:30pm.
‘I own a £2m farmhouse - Reeves’ mansion tax is nothing but punishment for being well-off’
Monday 24 November 2025 22:00 , Nicole Wootton-Canetwo-bedroom cottage in the East Sussex countryside.
The founder of a consultancy firm carried out a “Damascene conversion” of the house, doubling its size, and bought 50 acres of farming land around it for a nature reserve and a glamping business.
But now, with his farmhouse and land thought to be worth around £2m, the 75-year-old fears he and his wife could be placed in a “profoundly uncomfortable” position by a so-called mansion tax, expected to be announced at Wednesday’s Budget.
Alex Ross has this story...
‘I own a £2m farmhouse - Reeves’ mansion tax is punishment for being well-off’
OBR to publish latests forecasts on Wednesday
Monday 24 November 2025 21:30 , Athena StavrouThe OBR will publish its latest forecasts following the chancellor’s Budget speech on Wednesday, with sources telling Sky News that it will downgrade its growth predictions for 2026 and for the remaining years of the current parliament.
The OBR is an independent body which provides analysis of the nation’s public finances and was set up in 2010 by former Tory chancellor George Osborne in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.
Twice a year, it publishes detailed five-year forecasts alongside the Budget and spring statement to assess the impact of any tax and spending measures and analyse whether the government is meeting its fiscal targets.
The suspected downgrade is a result of a drop in expected productivity in the UK as part of a readjustment of previously incorrect estimates. However, Ms Reeves’ own moves will also be blamed, including imposing a hike in employer national insurance contributions in what has been dubbed “the jobs tax”.
‘Never in a hurtful or insulting way’: Nigel Farage responds to schoolboy racism claims
Monday 24 November 2025 21:10 , Nicole Wootton-CaneNigel Farage has responded to allegations he made racist and antisemitic comments to peers during his time as a schoolboy at Dulwich College.
Allegations published in The Guardian claimed the Reform leader had been behind several incidents of deeply offensive behaviour throughout his teenage years.
Speaking to ITV on Monday, Mr Farage said he had never made racist comments in a “hurtful or insulting way” or with “intent”.
You can read more below...
Nigel Farage responds to schoolboy racism claims
Want a Budget millennials won’t hate? Start by taxing life’s nuisances
Monday 24 November 2025 20:30 , Athena StavrouFrom boy racers to ultra-processed foods and doomscrolling, Britain’s worst habits cost us dearly, says Sophie Wilkinson – why doesn’t the chancellor put levies on them before taxing us again?
Want a Budget millennials won’t hate? Start by taxing life’s biggest nuisances
Watch: Labour minister apologises for speculation around budget
Monday 24 November 2025 19:40 , Athena StavrouReeves ditches mention of economic growth in speech after dire Budget forecasts
Monday 24 November 2025 19:05 , Nicole Wootton-CanePolitical editor David Maddox reports...
Rachel Reeves has dropped all mention of economic growth in an eve of Budget speech she gave to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday evening.
The chancellor addressed the PLP to rally the troops ahead of what many see as a make-or-break Budget on Wednesday with her own job believed to be on the line as well as the survival of Keir Starmer’s premiership.
But after coming into government just 18 months ago with a “number 1 mission” of economic growth, Ms Reeves did not mention it once in her speech to MPs instead focussing on “fairness” and the “cost of living”.
It comes after revelations that economic growth projections until 2029 are set to be downgraded by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) destroying her hopes of using it to fund extra public services and close the black hole in her spending.
In her speech to MPs, she said: “The Budget on Wednesday will be about three priorities: cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt.
“Cutting the cost of living was the thing that we all campaigned on, because we know that inflation reaching double digits, interest rates going through the roof, the economic instability under the previous government cost all our constituents dearly.”
Highlighting a rise in the minimum wage, extra childcare and freezes in rail fares and prescription charges, she noted: “I know that there is more to do, which is why we have already announced a freeze in prescription charges and rail fares. But there is more we can - and will - do.”
She also said that her priorities were NHS waiting lists and cutting debt.She concluded: “On Wednesday, this will be a fair Budget. It will be a Budget that delivers strong foundations, secures our future and delivers on our promise of change.”
Brexit costing the Treasury up to £90bn in lost tax revenue a year, new analysis shows
Monday 24 November 2025 18:50 , Nicole Wootton-CaneWhitehall editor Kate Devlin reports...
Brexit is costing the Treasury up to £90bn a year in lost tax revenues, according to a new analysis.
Less than two days before Rachel Reeves hikes levies in the Budget, the figures reveal the damage leaving the EU has done to the economy.
The analysis, by the House of Commons library, looked at a new report this month by the respected US think tank the National Bureau of Economic Research. It found Brexit had left the UK’s GDP between 6% and 8% smaller than it could have been.
The NBER said previous forecasts had found an average hit of around 4% to GDP, but their “longer-run estimate... is more negative at 6% to 8%”. They said the earlier calculations had been accurate over the five years after the Brexit vote “but they underestimated the impact over a decade”.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, whose party commissioned the new Commons library analysis, said its findings showed "why we have the highest taxes ever, why we have sky high bills, why we have a cost of living crisis."
He called on Labour drop its red lines and negotiate a new customs union with the EU, to “fix our broken relationship with Europe”.
The problem creating the UK’s pension gap and why the Budget could make things worse
Monday 24 November 2025 18:30 , Athena StavrouMany Brits are facing a pension shortfall in retirement as a result of concerns that, as a country, we’re not saving enough. But the problem is even worse for women - and the upcoming Budget could only exacerbate the problem.
Research from Royal London shows that on average women have less than half the pension savings of men - £39,000 compared to £92,000.
Although auto-enrolment in workplace pensions has helped a huge swathe of people put money towards their retirement, it’s still not an equal playing field.
The problem creating the UK’s pension gap and why the Budget could make things worse
Is income tax going up?
Monday 24 November 2025 18:01 , Athena StavrouAfter a press conference and behind-the-scenes briefings aimed at preparing the country for a manifesto-busting increase in income tax, Rachel Reeves then abandoned the idea of becoming the first Chancellor in half a century to take that step.
Instead, she may now opt for extending the existing freeze on the income tax thresholds which, if she also kept national insurance thresholds at their current rate, would raise around £8.3 billion a year for the Exchequer in 2029/30.
By not increasing the thresholds she will benefit from a process called “fiscal drag”, where as wages go up people are dragged into paying tax for the first time or shifted into a higher rate.
Facing facts on property tax: Rachel Reeves’s Budget options as she hunts for billions
Monday 24 November 2025 17:30 , Athena StavrouWith Labour’s Budget imminent, the chancellor faces a £22bn hole and a narrowing set of promises on tax. Property, long the quiet corner of the system, may finally be in her sights.
Here Sean O’Grady and Albert Toth analyse the options available to Reeves:
Property tax: Rachel Reeves’s Budget options as she hunts for billions
PM met Chinese premier at G20
Monday 24 November 2025 17:15 , Nicole Wootton-CanePolitical correspondent Caitlin Doherty reports...
Sir Keir Starmer spoke with Chinese premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in South Africa over the weekend.
The two leaders are understood to have greeted one another briefly during a so-called 'brush by' meeting, rather than holding formal bilateral talks.Given the talks were informal, no readout of the meeting has been offered by Number 10.
It comes as questions remain over whether a planned Chinese embassy in London will be given the go-ahead, and amid further questions about the government's engagement with Beijing.
Tim Davie had ‘blind spot’ on BBC editorial failings, author of bombshell memo claims
Monday 24 November 2025 17:02 , Nicole Wootton-CaneTim Davie had a “blind spot” when it comes the editorial failings at the BBC, the author of a leaked memo on impartiality at the corporation has said.
Appearing in front of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, Michael Prescott said Mr Davie was a “supreme talent” but failed to get on top of “incipient problems” at the corporation before he resigned in the wake of the bombshell memo becoming public.
But Mr Prescott, a former independent adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines and standards board, also insisted the broadcaster is not institutionally biased.
Political correspondent Millie Cooke has more below...
Tim Davie had a ‘blind spot’ on BBC editorial failings, author of bombshell memo says
Watch: Farmers take to roads across UK in Day of Unity protests ahead of Budget
Monday 24 November 2025 16:30 , Athena StavrouTwo thirds would rather Rachel Reeves cut public spending than increase taxes
Monday 24 November 2025 15:51 , Athena StavrouThe Independent’s political correspondent Cailtin Doherty reports:
Two thirds of Britons would rather that Rachel Reeves cut public spending rather than hike taxes.
Polling for More in Common ahead of this week's Budget indicates that 67 per cent of people would rather ministers cut spending rather than raise taxes on working people.
Among Labour voters, the split was 56 to 44 per cent in favour of spending cuts, while among Reform UK voters the split was 82 per cent to 18 per cent.
Conservative voters opted 75 per cent in favour of spending cuts, while Lib Dem voters were 61 - 39 per cent split.
Voter regret electing Keir Starmer over Rishi Sunak
Monday 24 November 2025 15:27 , Athena StavrouThe Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:
The 2024 election is just 18 months ago but a major polling company has already discovered voter regret over electing Keir Starmer and Labour instead of Rishi Sunak and the Tories.
According to More in Common, the prime minister has a poll rating of -51, one of the worst in recent history.
This is made up of 68 per cent of Britons think that Starmer is doing a bad job, compared to just 17 per cent who think he is doing a good job.
Meanwhile, just days before the Budget, the chancellor Rachel Reeve’s approval rating is even worse at -52, also the lowest More in Common has recorded for her.
Meanwhile, 68 per cent think former PM Rishi Sunak would have done a better job despite the Tories having the worst defeat in more than 350 years of their history.
A similar number, 65 per cent, believe that former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, would have also done a better job than his Labour successor.
‘I own a £2m farmhouse - Reeves’ mansion tax is nothing but punishment for being well-off’
Monday 24 November 2025 15:20 , Athena StavrouThree decades ago, Christopher Broadbent bought an old farm worker’s two-bedroom cottage in the East Sussex countryside.
The founder of a consultancy firm carried out a “Damascene conversion” of the house, doubling its size, and bought 50 acres of farming land around it for a nature reserve and a glamping business.
But now, with his farmhouse and land thought to be worth around £2m, the 75-year-old fears he and his wife could be placed in a “profoundly uncomfortable” position by a so-called mansion tax, expected to be announced at Wednesday’s Budget.
The Independent’s Alex Ross reports:
‘I own a £2m farmhouse - Reeves’ mansion tax is punishment for being well-off’
What are salary sacrifice schemes?
Monday 24 November 2025 14:51 , Athena StavrouA tax raid on salary sacrifice schemes could be announced in Wednesday’s Budget, reports suggest, raising fears that some people’s retirements could be put at risk.
Salary sacrifice schemes allow people to “give up” a chunk of their salary for a different benefit from their employer.
Employers may offer salary sacrifice as part of their pension scheme as a tax efficient way to help workers boost their pots.
When someone pays into a pension using salary sacrifice, the employer will pay the whole amount into the employee’s pension, including the employer’s contribution.
Sean O'Grady: Reeves’ Robin Hood budget may shore up party support, but not voters’
Monday 24 November 2025 14:33 , Athena StavrouLabour’s new budget is set to lift the two-child benefit cap – a popular move in Parliament, says Sean O’Grady, but one that may unsettle voters already squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis:
Rachel Reeves’s £15bn child benefit ‘giveaway’ is an unwanted gift Britain will hate
Government dismisses criticism of workers' rights bill
Monday 24 November 2025 14:18 , Athena StavrouDowning Street dismissed suggestions that the Government had got its workers’ rights package wrong after Peter Kyle hinted at potential changes to the measures.
Asked whether the Government thought it had got it wrong, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “No, the Government is inviting consultation because we’re committed to getting the detail right… that’s why we’re asking businesses and workers to share their views.”
Estate agents warn mansion tax could 'create more uncertainty'
Monday 24 November 2025 14:00 , Athena StavrouEstate agents have warned the speculated mansion tax could “create more uncertainty” in parts of the property market.
The mooted move will create more uncertainty at the highest end of the property market, due to its predicted escalatory nature, at a time when the market is already under pressure as a result of Budget speculation since the summer,” Dominic Agace, chief executive of estate agents Winkworth said.
“Guidance will need to be provided swiftly on the highest potential tax charge, so everyone can adjust accordingly.
“With non dom tax changes, VAT on school fees and mortgage rate increases, this will just add to more pressure on those living in these homes worth £2m upwards, particularly in London where owners may have leveraged up to buy them.”
