Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves leaves 11 Downing Street ahead of her budget speech in London on November 26, 2025. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP London AP —

Britain’s unpopular center-left Labour government sought to seize the political narrative Wednesday with a tax-raising budget that it hopes will boost economic growth, reduce child poverty and ease cost-of-living pressures.

But the chaos that has engulfed the government during weeks of mixed messaging and political infighting continued up to the final moment. The entire contents of the budget were leaked half an hour before Treasury chief Rachel Reeves delivered the budget statement in the House of Commons.

The government was elected in a landslide victory in July 2024 on a promise not to raise taxes on income

See Full Page