DOWNING Street has insisted Rachel Reeves did not mislead the public or markets when she warned of difficult decisions needed to fill a black hole in the public finances – despite new revelations that there was no spending gap at all.

There were warnings ahead of the Budget that the Chancellor 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.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the letter showed Reeves had “lied to the public” and sho

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