The pre-budget back-pedal
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2025
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rachel Reeves has paved the way for potential tax rises. In a speech three weeks before the budget, the chancellor refused to commit to Labour’s manifesto promise to not raise National Insurance, income tax or VAT. With Nigel Farage also back-pedalling on tax cuts, is it time for the politicians to be more honest about the state of the economy?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Oliver Wright, policy editor, The Times
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producers: Shabnam Grewal, Alula Hart.
Read more: Reeves: We must all do our bit to secure Britain’s future
Further listening: Do bond markets rule the world?
Clips: Sky News, The Guardian, Parliament TV, ITV Politics.
Photo: Getty Images.
Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. I'm Manvine Rana. |
| 0:11.9 | Just over a year ago, Rachel Reeves, the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer, was making history, |
| 0:20.3 | unveiling her first budget amid triumphant cheers. |
| 0:24.4 | I have made an important choice today to keep every single commitment that we made on tax in our |
| 0:30.8 | manifesto. So I say to working people, I will not increase your national insurance. |
| 0:38.5 | I will not increase your VAT and I will not increase your income tax. |
| 0:44.9 | Well, that was then. |
| 0:48.2 | Things were a bit quieter yesterday when Rachel Reeves took to the stage ahead of her next budget with a warning that we'd all have to do our bit. |
| 0:59.0 | As Chancellor, I have to face the world as it is, not the world that I wanted to be. |
| 1:04.0 | She wouldn't talk about taxes, but the implication was clear. |
| 1:09.0 | And Rachel Reeves isn't the only one desperately shifting into reverse gear on her |
| 1:13.8 | economic promises. |
| 1:15.0 | We want to cut taxes. |
| 1:16.4 | Of course we do. |
| 1:18.2 | But we understand substantial tax cuts, given the dire state of debt and our finances are |
| 1:24.8 | not realistic at this current moment in time. |
| 1:28.9 | So just how bad is the financial mood music? |
| 1:32.9 | And is there a glimmer of hope on the horizon for any of us? |
| 1:48.3 | The story today, it's the economy, stupid. |
| 2:01.7 | We knew something was in the offing, really at the back end of last week, |
| 2:05.3 | people started talking about a major intervention that Reeds was planning to make. |
| 2:10.4 | But it wasn't really until yesterday that those plans got firmed up and we got told about. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.