Reeves will not face ministerial standards probe over Budget briefings

Nigel Farage had called for an investigation into whether the Chancellor mispresented the state of the public finances ahead of her fiscal statement.

Rachel Reeves will not face an investigation by the Prime Minister’s ethics tsar over the handling of the Budget.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had called for the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, to investigate the Chancellor’s campaign to “prepare political ground” for tax hikes in the lead-up to the Budget.

But Sir Laurie is understood to have informed Mr Farage there will not be an investigation.

Mr Farage had asked for Sir Laurie to consider whether Ms Reeves had broken the ministerial code by talking down the state of the public finances after receiving preliminary forecasts from the Office for Budget