OBR apologises for publishing fiscal outlook early

Two-child benefit cap limit scrapped at cost of £3bn

£2,000 cap for salary-sacrifice pension contributions from April 2029

3p a mile tax on drivers of battery electric cars from April 2028

The UK’s economy will grow more slowly than predicted over the next four years, according to a forecast that was published early in a Budget blunder.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast gross domestic product would grow by 1.5% this year, an increase from its earlier 1% forecast.

But it downgraded growth in 2026 from 1.9% to 1.4%, in 2027 from 1.8% to 1.5%, in 2028 from 1.7% to 1.5% and in 2029 from 1.8% to 1.5%.

The OBR document also confirmed Rachel Reeves’s Budget “raises taxes by amounts rising to £26 billion in 2029-30, thr

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