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Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was expected to freeze tax thresholds in the Budget on 30 October, to swell government income as more working people were brought into higher tax bands. Before Labour formed a government, she had said that the Conservatives, by freezing tax thresholds, were ‘picking the pockets of working people’. Weeks of speculation on the Budget were encouraged by leaks and by constant questioning of ministers about how Labour would keep to its manifesto undertaking not to raise taxes on ‘working people’ by increasing income tax, national insurance or VAT. The International Monetary Fund raised its growth forecast for the United Kingdom to 1.1 per cent this year, compared with the 0.7 per cent it forecast three months ago. Government borrowing rose last month to £16.6 billion, against the £15.1 billion it had predicted. HSBC is dividing its operations into eastern and western markets.
The government released 1,100 more prisoners early, in a scheme to ease overcrowding in jails in England and Wales.
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