The Chancellor did not mislead the public or markets when she warned of difficult decisions needed to fill a black hole in the public finances, Downing Street has said.

There were warnings ahead of the Budget that Rachel Reeves could face as much as a £20 billion gap in meeting her self-imposed fiscal rule of not borrowing for day-to-day spending.

But a letter from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published on Friday revealed it told the Chancellor as early as September 17 that prevailing economic winds meant the gap would be much smaller.

It later informed her in October the spending gap had closed altogether.

The Budget on Wednesday followed weeks of warnings from Ms Reeves that she would need to make “hard choices”, including a period of time in which it seemed likel

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