A top official from the Office for Budget Responsibility has agreed Chancellor Rachel Reeves was faced with having to make "very difficult choices"

An Office for Budget Responsibility bigwig has backed Rachel Reeves’ denial that she misled the public over the state of the nation’s finances.

The Chancellor has been embroiled in a row after suggesting in advance of the Budget that she had a black hole in the national coffers that needed to be filled, paving the way for a wave of tax hikes. In fact, the OBR informed Ms Reeves on October 31 she had a £4.2billion surplus.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has seized on the issue in repeated calls for the Chancellor to quit, accusing her of giving an overly pessimistic impression of the public finances as a “smokescreen” to raise taxes. Ms Badeno

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