Watch live as Rachel Reeves and other Labour ministers depart Downing Street on Wednesday, 30 October, ahead of the party’s first Budget in 14 years.
The chancellor is expected to hold the red box outside Number 10 before she, Sir Keir Starmer, and their colleagues file into the House of Commons.
In her speech later today, she is expected to say the “prize on offer” is “immense”, and she will lay out new funding to cut hospital waiting lists, build more affordable homes and rebuild crumbling schools.
“More pounds in people’s pockets. An NHS that is there when you need it. An economy that is growing, creating wealth and opportunity for all. Because that is the only way to improve living standards,” she will add.
The Treasury has already announced that the minimum wage will increase to £12.21.
It falls short of the £12.60 an hour sum recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, but Ms Reeves described the 6.7 per cent increase as a “significant step” towards creating a “genuine living wage for working people.”
Labour has vowed not to raise taxes on “working people” in the days before the Budget announcement.
Their pre-election manifesto promised not to increase income tax, national insurance, or VAT as part of their commitment to keep taxes low for these “working people.”
However, other rumoured tax rises led critics to question who falls under Labour’s definition of “working.”
The prime minister said the UK’s working people “know exactly who they are.”
“I know some people want to have a debate about this”, he said, “and I know there will always be the exception that proves the rule.”
Asked whether he considered people who get additional income from assets such as shares or property, he replied they “wouldn’t come within my definition.”
