UK Budget Leaves Rachel Reeves Facing a £30 Billion Reckoning
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in London on Nov. 4.
Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
When Keir Starmer’s office caught wind of a plot to oust him as prime minister, his Chancellor Rachel Reeves was basking in a rare bit of good news.
The watchdog that governs UK fiscal policy and which had been promising to force some very painful choices in next week’s budget told her the outlook wasn’t as dire as feared. That gave the chancellor leeway to shelve income-tax raises that would have broken vows to the electorate. The threat stalking the prime minister meant that she would need to.