The Budget is out and, as expected, its measures include the removal of the two-child benefit cap, along with tax rises of £26 billion. Today, though, the headlines focus on whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves deliberately misled the public about the state of the public finances to soften the reception of her Budget. On the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg asked Reeves why she had given the impression she would have ‘no choice’ to put taxes up, when in fact the Office for Budget Responsibility had said there was a £4 billion surplus. Reeves said her headroom had been downgraded from the £9.9 billion she had in the spring and claimed that £4 billion would be ‘the lowest surplus that any chancellor ever delivered against their fiscal rules’. Reeves suggested that the tax decisions in her budget were taken to ‘build up that economic resilience’ and get the headroom to £21.7 billion. Kuenssberg noted that, on 10 November, Reeves had told the BBC that not raising taxes would require ‘deep cuts in spending on longterm projects’ and asked if she had been lying. Reeves reiterated that her headroom had been reduced and that she had wanted to increase it.

Rachel Reeves: ‘We haven’t broken the manifesto’

Laura Kuenssberg also asked the Chancellor if she denied giving the impression that she wouldn’t put ‘ordinary people’s taxes up’ before the election. Rachel Reeves said she........

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