Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that there was “no misleading” by Chancellor Rachel Reeves over the state of the public finances ahead of the Budget.

Ms Reeves has faced claims she misled voters by overstating the scale of the fiscal challenge in the run-up to last week’s Budget, in which she announced £26 billion worth of tax rises.

She has also reportedly been accused of misleading the Cabinet.

The Chancellor has said an Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast showing a £4.2 billion surplus against her borrowing rules did not take into account the welfare reform U-turn or the abolition of the two-child benefit cap.

The Prime Minister said: “There was no misleading, and I simply don’t accept, and I was receiving the numbers, that being told that the OBR productivity review means

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