Budget day has arrived and its policies, predictions, and preparations fill the front pages of the newspapers. The Sun says Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce “new taxes on fun” and it lists “work, pensions, houses, taxis, milkshakes, hotel stays” as areas that will be impacted, with the “cash redirected to the NHS and benefits”. It adds motorists will feel relief from a likely extension to the “fuel duty freeze”.
Reeves is facing a moment “moment of truth”, the i Paper writes, as she delivers a fiscal statement while “caught between the surge of Reform on the right and demands from Labour MPs on the left”. The paper expects the chancellor will lift the two-child benefit cap and confirm an above-inflation bump to minimum wages.
The Financial Times predicts the chancellor will deliver a “tax-raising Budget” in the Commons later. Her second budget “will fill a fiscal hole of about £30bn with a series of big tax rises alongside spending cuts”, according to the paper. Freezing income tax thresholds until 2030 and increasing minimum wages are set to feature in the Budget, the paper writes.
“After weeks of leaks, Britain faces a chilling winter Budget,” is the Metro’s lead. Rising taxes could lead to higher costs of “booze, sugar, nights away, and even your latte coffee,” the paper says. The chancellor’s plea to Labour MPs to “support my bid to balance books” also splashes on the front page, urging colleagues to treat the Budget as “a package – not a pick’n’mix”.
The Daily Star reports that the chancellor is “expanding the sugar tax to cover milkshakes and more fizzy drinks”. The paper’s take is the “chancellor milks us for all we’re worth” adding, for good measure, that it will not offer voters a “sweetener”.
A “chorus of business leaders and economists” caution the chancellor an “inflation-busting hike to the minimum wage threatens to push even more young people out of work”. They warn an 8.5% minimum wage boost for 18-20s will cause a “spiral” in employer costs, the paper writes.
Reeves promises to “tackle Britain’s cost of living crisis and deliver fiscal stability”, the Guardian says. It writes that the Budget run-up was “buffeted by a series of damaging leaks and speculation”, describing the stakes as a “decisive moment for the fate of [Prime Minister Sir] Keir Starmer’s beleaguered government”.
Expected minimum wage rises leads the Daily Mirror’s front page on Budget day. It says the increase, peaking at 8.5% for 18-20 year olds, will “put more money in millions of low-paid workers’ pockets”.
“Smorgasbord budget could cost families £1,600”, the Times posits, as the chancellor prepares to deliver “more than a dozen tax rises”. A tribute to Joan Templeman, who was married to Virgin group boss Sir Richard Branson, also features on the front page, after she died at 80.
Meanwhile, the Daily Express leads with the government’s “plan for judges alone to hear cases where sentences are up to five years”. Critics say “abolishing jury trials will ‘destroy’ the justice system, fail victims, and increase the chances of wrongful convictions”, writes the paper. It says the warnings from legal experts reached the ears of Justice Secretary David Lammy, who is considering the proposal as part of efforts to “slash a Crown Court backlog”.
The Daily Telegraph also leads with Lammy’s proposal to limit juries to “cases of murder, rape, manslaughter, and other serious offences of more than five years”. The paper quotes the deputy prime minister’s previous argument that jury trials are “fundamental to democracy”.
Finally, the Independent leads with the latest on efforts to broker a Ukraine-Russia peace deal. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is “‘ready to move forward’ with European plan,” the paper writes, calling it a “significant diplomatic shift”.
As you might expect, Wednesday’s papers focus heavily on the Budget. The “i” calls it a “moment of truth” for Rachel Reeves. The Guardian says it will be “decisive” for Labour. The Daily Mail writes that the chancellor has been warned her “inflation-busting hike to the minimum wage threatens to push even more young people out of work”. “Help is at hand” is the Daily Mirror’s view. Its editorial says the increase “won’t fix everything” but it does show “what happens when a government values workers instead of exploiting them”.
The Daily Telegraph says the chancellor will introduce what the Tories have called a “dirty dozen” tax hikes. The paper says she’ll use her speech to argue the expected increases are “essential if the NHS and other vital public services are to be protected”. The Financial Times says she is hoping that the package will reassure the markets that she has “the public finances under control.”
Some of the papers use their editorials to frame the Budget as bad for savers, pensioners and workers, and good for those on benefits. The Sun says “amid this endless picking of ordinary people’s pockets”, the chancellor “has found another £15bn to fund more benefits handouts for the jobless.” The Mail says “Labour has officially become the party of the benefits class”. The Times expects “a Labour budget for Labour MPs”.
The Economist magazine says predictions are pointing to a Budget that “plugs the fiscal gap” with a patchwork of small tax rises, and “keeps Labour backbenchers content” with spending promises. But it warns whilst such a package might be sufficient to “steady the ship”, it is likely to steer the government “straight into even rougher seas ahead”.
The Daily Express uses its coverage to warn against taxing pensioners. It says 500,000 more will have to pay if the chancellor extends a freeze on income tax thresholds for another two years. The Daily Star says the chancellor will “extend the sugar tax to cover milkshakes”. “Reeves shake down” is the headline. Not to a let a pun go to waste, the paper adds that she’s “on shaky ground”.
