Reeves will not face ethics probe over pre-Budget remarks

"Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not face an investigation by the prime minister's ethics adviser over whether she broke the ministerial code with her pre-Budget interventions. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had asked Sir Laurie Magnus to launch an inquiry arguing that Reeves had breached rules which require ministers to be open and candid. He accused her of failing to give Parliament "the full and truthful picture" of the nation's finances in the lead-up to the Budget."

""The chancellor conducted a sustained public and media campaign portraying the public finances as being in a state of collapse in order to prepare political ground for approximately 30bn of tax increases which, on the OBR's own numbers, were discretionary policy choices rather than unavoidable fiscal necessity. The British people are now facing the heaviest tax burden in generations on the basis of what increasingly looks like a sustained misrepresentation of the true fiscal position.""

Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister's ethics adviser, declined to open an investigation into whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves breached the ministerial code through her pre-Budget interventions. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had accused Reeves of failing to give Parliament "the full and truthful picture" and of conducting a campaign to justify roughly £30bn of tax increases. Reeves denied misleading the public and said she had been "upfront" about choices. In the run-up to the 26 November Budget she emphasized a downgrade to productivity that worsened finances, while the OBR also reported stronger-than-expected tax receipts that offset lower productivity growth. Opposition parties suggested Reeves presented an overly negative fiscal picture to justify additional tax rises.

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