As the October 30 Budget looms, Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, stressed that Ms Reeves will need to spend more than the one per cent year-over-year real public spending increases which had been pencilled in by her predecessor Jeremy Hunt.

Rachel Reeves is considering increasing alcohol duties in next month’s Budget.The Chancellor has not ruled out putting up tax on beer, wine and spirits as part of efforts to plug what Labour claims is a £22 billion hole in the public finances.

Rachel Reeves has six weeks to come up with a plan to fix the UK’s ailing public services, deliver an economic boost and lift the dour national mood — and all without blowing up the nation’s finances.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is still expected to press ahead with her plan to cut the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners despite being handed a £10 billion budget boost by the Bank of England.

Some economists have linked the drop to officials' warnings of a "painful" Budget at the end of August, although it is impossible to prove a link. There were "major corrections" - or double digit falls - for consumers' perception of the general economic situation,

Rachel Reeves has “damaged the economy” by causing a downturn in consumer confidence with her repeated warnings of tax rises in the Budget, the former boss of Sainsbury’s has said. Asked on the Today programme if the backdrop of bad news in the lead up to next month’s Budget was “damaging the economy” by causing people not to buy things,

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to roll-back on her Scrooge-like cuts to winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners after the Bank of England announced a £10 billion boost to the British economy.