With a month to go until the Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to find a projected £30bn to balance the books. And the forecasts are not in her favour, with the OBR’s bigger than expected productivity downgrade dealing another blow to the Treasury this week. So where will the chancellor find the money – and if Labour have no choice but to break their manifesto tax pledge, where will that leave them with the electorate?

Host George Parker is joined by associate editor and columnist Stephen Bush, chief UK commentator Robert Shrimsley and the FT’s economics editor Sam Fleming.

Follow George: @georgewparker.bsky.social, @GeorgeWParker; Stephen at @stephenkb and Robert @robertshrimsley.bsky.social

Want more?

Reeves faces £20bn hit to public finances from productivity downgrade

Keir Starmer puts Labour MPs on notice for Budget tax rises

Starmer refuses to stand by manifesto tax pledge

Letting agent admits mistake in Reeves’ rental tax row

Sign up here for Stephen Bush's morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek analysis. Get 30 days free.

Plus, the FT is hosting a live webinar on November 28 on what the UK Budget will mean for your money. You can put questions to FT journalists Claer Barrett, Stuart Kirk, Tej Parikh and special guest, tax expert Dan Neidle. Get your free pass now at ft.com/budgetwebinar.

Our email address is politicalfix@ft.com

Political Fix was presented by George Parker and produced by Lulu Smyth. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The video engineers are Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Manuela Saragosa.

Clip from BBC

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do Birth Control Side Effects Make It Worth Skipping?

Short Wave

Intro

The AI-powered Podcast Player