Rachel Reeves Acknowledges Damage of Too Many Budget Leaks
Rachel Reeves told MPs there were too many budget leaks, describing them as unacceptable and resulting in excessive speculation and many inaccuracies, which were damaging. The flow of budget content to news organisations was described as very damaging during a Treasury select committee hearing on 10 December 2025.
An inquiry into Treasury-to-media leaks will take place, though permanent secretary James Bowler did not commit to publishing the results. The entire contents of the budget were released 40 minutes early by independent forecasters after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) uploaded calculations to a link it believed was inaccessible.
UK government borrowing costs briefly spiked following reports that income tax rises would not occur as expected and that Labour would not break its manifesto pledge. Reeves ruled out future revenue-raising measures including applying capital gains tax to primary residences and changing the state pension triple.
Budget measures included an electric vehicle charge per mile and an additional council tax for properties worth £2 million or more. Dame Harriet Baldwin noted that Reeves's earlier statement regarding not overhauling council tax and road pricing turned out to be inaccurate.
