RACHEL Reeves is due to deliver her second budget in the House of Commons today, in which she is widely expected to pull the lever on tax hikes in order to fill a black hole in the public finances.

The Chancellor has 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, Reeves told MPs that politics is a “team sport”, in an apparent call for unity.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has challenged the UK Government to e

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