CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves “misled” the public over the UK’s finances ahead of her Autumn Budget, the BBC’s political editor has said.

In a rare political intervention, Chris Mason said it was his judgment that the Chancellor had given the public an impression “not at one with the facts” in the lead up to the Budget, which was delivered on November 26.

On November 4, Reeves held a press conference on Downing Street in which she talked about productivity levels, which were expected to be revised down by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). She suggested that this would necessitate “hard choices” – widely read as tax rises.

However, Reeves did not mention tax receipts, which she knew had risen enough to “more than offset the reduction in productivity growth”, Mason said. The OBR ha

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