Rachel Reeves faces having to raise taxes or cut spending if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs on Britain next week, the official budget watchdog has warned. The chancellor was forced to announce a £14 billion package of cuts to repair the public finances in her spring statement after the Office for Budget Responsibility halved growth forecasts. But the budget watchdog warned that there was a 50 per cent chance that Reeves would be forced to return with further cuts or tax rises as soon as October amid concerns that the UK’s economic outlook will deteriorate still further. • The spring statement in full: who are the winners and losers? It said that Reeves’s decision to leave herself with a “tiny”

Source: The Times March 26, 2025 22:20 UTC