Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers a speech in the media briefing room of 9 Downing Street, central London, on November 4, 2025, ahead of the forthcoming Budget. JUSTIN TALLIS/Pool via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Tuesday she would do what is necessary - not popular - to protect the country against high inflation and high interest rates as she weighs whether to increase taxes at the November 26 budget.

In a rare pre-budget speech, Reeves said her annual fiscal update would be "for growth with fairness at its heart, and a budget that supports businesses to create jobs and to innovate."

"As I take my decisions on both tax and spend, I will do what is necessary to protect families from high inflation and interest rates," she said, adding this would be "to protect our public services from a return to austerity and to ensure the economy that we hand down to future generations is secure with debt under control."

(Reporting by Sarah Young, writing by Sam Tabahriti, Editing by Kate Holton)