Prematurely released online, U.K. Budget increases child welfare allowance, taxes

The weeks of anticipation ahead of United Kingdom Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget dissipated prematurely after the independent fiscal watchdog, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), released its analysis of the budget some 40 minutes before the Chancellor rose to speak in the House of Commons at around 12.30 p.m. local time.

The OBR apologised for the “technical error” and Ms. Reeves distanced herself from the early release of the document, emphasising it was an OBR issue.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Nus Ghani said a “disappointing trend” across successive governments  of officials briefing the media ahead of Parliament had reached “unprecedented levels”.

The Budget saw measures to address child poverty and a range of taxes.

With a view to addressing child poverty, Ms. Reeves, on Wednesday (November 26, 2025), ended the two-child benefit cap from April next year. The cap meant that parents could claim certain types of tax and welfare credits for only their first two children. Some 30% or 4.3 million British children were living in relative poverty as per the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

The government had already announced an increase in the minimum wage on Tuesday (November 25).

Ms. Reeve’s had indicated weeks earlier that she was considering breaking Labour’s manifesto promise to not raise income tax, Value Added Tax and a social security tax called ‘National Insurance’ but backtracked, presumably owing to falling popularity of the Keir Starmer government and recent movements within the Labour Party to replace the prime minister.

The budget avoided increasing the rates of the three main taxes but still outlined an increase in a medley of taxes totaling £26 million by the end of the parliament (2029-30). This would include a freezing of income tax thresholds (called a ‘stealth tax’ because with rising wages and inflation more taxes are paid ) until 2031, a tax on salary-sacrificed pension contributions above a threshold, and an increase in tax on properties, savings and dividends. There would also be a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million.

The OBR projected a record high tax to GDP ratio by 2030-31 of 38.3 %.It forecasted more tepid growth in 2026 for the U.K., pegging it at 1.4% rather than the 1.5% projection in March although it increased the growth rate for the current year.

Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch called the measures a “smorgasbord of misery”, adding that the government was hiking taxes to fund welfare.

Early in her Budget speech, Ms. Reeves pointed to the U.K.’s trade deals with the U.S., India and the E.U. as examples of how Labour was “rebuilding” the country’s economy. The budget would reject austerity (i.e., cuts in welfare spending), Ms Reeves emphasised, adding that the public debt would go down in each year of the forecast period.