Rachel Reeves has privately urged Labour MPs to back her make-or-break budget, saying they will not like every measure but promising it will be \u201cfair\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to a fractious parliamentary party, after a fortnight of leadership speculation, the chancellor said \u201cpolitics is a team sport\u201d and promised there would be a package of appealing measures in the budget that they could present to their constituents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the distributional analysis you\u2019ll see this is a Labour<\/a> budget, a progressive budget, a budget I\u2019m proud of,\u201d Reeves told the gathered MPs.<\/p>\n But she told them it would be \u201ca package not a pick and mix \u2026 you can\u2019t say I like the cola bottles but not the fruit salad\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that you like every single measure, but you might not. There might be 99% or 95% that you like, but 1% or 5% that you don\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The chancellor met MPs in parliament on Monday night promising them that tax rises would be kept to a minimum and that the budget would prioritise cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt, saying the last part was just as vital because of the need to lower borrowing costs to free up more money for public services.<\/p>\n The chancellor said she was \u201cdetermined to keep the contributions people make as low as possible\u201d and said businesses would benefit from action to cut the cost of living, meaning people would have more disposable income.<\/p>\n Reeves is expected to reveal in this week\u2019s budget that the UK\u2019s economic growth forecasts have been downgraded in each of the next five years despite the government naming growth as its number one mission at the last election.<\/p>\n \u201cCutting the cost of living was the thing that we all campaigned on, because we know that inflation reaching double digits, interest rates going through the roof, the economic instability under the previous government cost all our constituents dearly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve increased the \u2018national living wage\u2019 and the national minimum wage. We\u2019ve protected the triple lock, increasing it last year and increasing it again from next April. We have properly funded free childcare commitments. We\u2019re rolling out free breakfast clubs at primary schools for all children, and extending free school meals to an additional half a million children.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I know that there is more to do, which is why we have already announced a freeze in prescription charges and rail fares. But there is more we can \u2013 and will \u2013 do.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Wednesday, this will be a fair budget. It will be a budget that delivers strong foundations, secures our future and delivers on our promise of change.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Reeves said she was determined to stay in her post and thanked MPs for supportive comments they had made about fighting misogyny in the media. \u201cI\u2019ll show the media, I\u2019ll show the Tories, I will not let them beat me, I\u2019ll be there on Wednesday, I\u2019ll be there next year and I\u2019ll be back the year after that,\u201d she said to some cheers in the room.<\/p>\n Reeves is seeking a significant rise in headroom in Wednesday\u2019s budget to allow her to meet her fiscal rules, aiming for as much as \u00a320bn. Among the spending measures expected are the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and action to make cuts to energy bills, policies that are likely to be popular with MPs.<\/p>\n But since rejecting a long-trailed potential rise in income tax, the Treasury will seek to fill its fiscal hole with a string of different tax measures, including a potential new property levy on high-value properties, an income tax threshold freeze for two more years, a pay-per-mile scheme<\/a> for electric cars and measures to make salary sacrifice schemes less generous<\/a>.<\/p>\n The chancellor said that budget speculation in the run-up to Wednesday had been \u201cincredibly destabilising\u201d \u2013 and compared it with the previous year\u2019s budget, where rumours were run about pension reforms that contributed to people taking out lump sums early and then the reforms were not enacted. \u201cThey are not serving their readers at all,\u201d Reeves told MPs.<\/p>\n