Starmer says Budget was ‘moment of personal pride’, as Reeves under pressure over build-up speech

Did Reeves lie? ‘Of course she didn’t’published at 07:48 GMT

07:48 GMT

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, is asked whether the chancellor lied in the lead-up to the Budget.

“No, of course she didn’t,” he replies.

Pushed on the question again, Jones holds firm. He says Reeves had three clear priorities going into the Budget: to tackle the cost of living, protect investment in the NHS, and get debt falling as a share of the economy.

She “ticked all of those boxes”, he says.

When asked again how honest Reeves was in the lead-up to the Budget – and whether she misled the public by suggesting the public finances were in a worse state than they were – Jones explains how the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasting process works.

There are five rounds of forecasts, he says. Numbers are updated on a “continuous basis” with decisions taken by the chancellor in the final week or so before the Budget.

The £4bn “headroom” revealed in one of these forecasting rounds was “too small”, he adds.

Jones says the government needed to increase its headroom to £20bn and pay for the decisions it took on cost-of-living measures and the NHS.