Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended Rachel Reeves. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied accusations that Chancellor Rachel Reeves misled cabinet colleagues – and the country – over the state of public finances in the lead-up to the Budget as tax rumours hinged on the belief that there was a £30bn shortfall in the fiscal headroom.

In a press conference at a nursery in London, Starmer defended Reeves’ tax measures and extra spending commitments to lift the two-child benefit cap at the Budget despite questions over months of kite-flying and pitch-rolling in the lead-up to the Budget.

Starmer held firm on the claim that a productivity downgrade by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had forced the government to raise revenue as he added that he was “bem

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