MPs erupted into laughter as Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a savage dig at Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as she delivered her Budget to the Commons on Wednesday

Although Reeves made a big point about not increasing the rate of income tax, Ben Zaranko, an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, points out that a one-pence increase in all rates of income tax would have raised a similar amount to the three year freeze that Reeves did announce.

Eliot Wilson talks us through the history and the traditions surrounding the UK Budget, one of the most important days in the British political calendar.

Britain’s unpopular center-left Labour government sought to seize the political narrative Wednesday with a tax-raising budget that it hopes will boost economic growth, reduce child poverty and ease cost-of-living pressures.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves delivered her budget statement to parliament on Wednesday, taking more tax from workers, people saving for a pension and investors to give herself more room to meet her borrowing targets.

In an unusual pre-Budget speech in Downing Street, Reeves did not rule out a U-turn on Labour's general election manifesto pledge not to hike income tax, VAT or National Insurance. When journalists explicitly asked if the government was set to break that pledge she did not answer directly but said she was "setting the context for the Budget".

In a shambolic error, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) leaked its assessment of the Chancellor's fiscal plans 30 minutes before she was due to unveil them in the House of Commons.

It is clear the UK government doesn’t understand or accept the fact that you can’t tax your way to growth” – Sandy Begbie, SFE

The unusual early release, which came hours before Chancellor Rachel Reeves was due to present her annual Budget, injected volatility into both markets and Westminster.