2025 Autumn Budget - the political reaction

26 Nov 2025

Addressing the House of Commons, Chancellor Rachel Reeves used the 2025 Autumn Budget to freeze Income Tax and National Insurance (NI) thresholds for an extra three years beyond 2028; remove the two-child benefit cap from April 2026; and extend the 5p 'temporary' Fuel Duty cut on petrol and diesel until September 2026.

Ms Reeves promised that the Budget measures will help put the public finances on a 'sustainable path' and tackle inflation to build a 'fairer, stronger and more secure Britain'.

She commented: 'I said I would cut the cost of living and I meant it. This Budget will bring down inflation and provide immediate relief for families.'

Responding to the Chancellor's speech, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch labelled the Budget as a 'smorgasbord of misery'. Ms Badenoch stated: 'Last year [the Chancellor] put up taxes by £40 billion, the biggest tax raid in British history. She swore it was a one-off.

'She is out of money. Out of ideas. Out of her depth. And she has run out of road.'

Meanwhile, Adrian Ramsay, spokesperson for the Green Party, said: 'Instead of delivering a transformational Budget to tax extreme wealth fairly and tackle the cost-of-living crisis, this Labour government has once again chosen to paper over the cracks with half-measures that won't do enough to fix the deep-rooted problems in our economy that are keeping ordinary people in poverty while the super-rich get richer.'