Rachel Reeves forced to deny she lied before the Budget as calls grow for her to quit

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing growing criticism over her comments ahead of the Budget, after it emerged the watchdog told her privately there was no structural black hole Rachel Reeves

Wriggling Rachel Reeves has been forced to insist she didn’t lie to the public before her Budget. The Chancellor insisted she had not deliberately misled anyone amid rising fury of how she softened up the public for monster tax hikes.

She said “of course I didn’t” lie, despite spending weeks talking up how the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had found a huge black hole in the books. But the watchdog had in fact been informing her privately that there was no structural black hole.

Ms Reeves insisted she did not think there should be an investigation into her pre-Budget comments as it