Rachel Reeves is under fire from Labour backbenchers who have said her Budget is “impossible to sell” to “horrified” constituents.The Chancellor had promised that her maiden Budget would boost growth and “fix the foundations” of the economy.

Britain's new finance minister Rachel Reeves announced the biggest tax increases in three decades in her first budget on Wednesday, saying she had to repair the country's broken public services with heavy spending.

Rachel Reeves was positively boastful this week about the fact she’s the first ever female chancellor to deliver a budget. She forgets there have been three other women who have held the much higher office of Prime Minister – and all of them have been Tories.

Reeves announced a £22.6 billion increase in the day-to-day health budget, and a £31 billion increase in the capital budget, which she said is the largest increase in spending – outside the pandemic – since 2010. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Rachel Reeves will promise to put ‘more pounds in people’s pockets’ despite a series of tax rises expected when she becomes the first female chancellor to deliver a Budget

She told the Observer: “This is only the fourth time that Labour has gone from opposition into government. In 1945, we rebuilt after the war; in 1964, we rebuilt with the ‘white heat of technology’; and in 1997, we rebuilt our public services. We need to do all of that now.”

Rachel Reeves has attempted to distance herself from previous promises not to raise taxes as she defended her bombshell budget.

UK welfare spending will be allowed to rise significantly this parliament after chancellor Rachel Reeves loosened a target on overall outlays, reducing pressure on the Labour government to make sharp cuts to benefits.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has faced an angry backlash over her commitment in June that the only increases needed were in the Labour manifesto.