Labour's top brass, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, have been accused by ministers of deceiving the cabinet about a supposed hole in the public finances to justify controversial tax hikes in the recent budget, reports The Times.

Chancellor Reeves repeatedly emphasized a downgrade in productivity forecasts during cabinet meetings as she argued for raising taxes, convincing ministers that the public finances were in dire straits and that breaking Labour's manifesto pledge by increasing the basic rate of income tax was necessary.

Chancellor's private surplus knowledge not shared with cabinet

However, it has now emerged that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had already privately informed Reeves on October 31 that the productivity downgrade had been more than offset by high

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