Autumn Budget 2025: Live updates as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver Labour’s money grab budget 

Months of speculation fueled by Treasury leaks and the Chancellor himself are driving ‘sluggish growth’ as ​​investors, consumers and home buyers delay key decisions, experts warn

Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said Ms Reeves now risked ‘raising taxes, which is bad for growth’. He told Times Radio on Monday:

If you do a lot of small things, often our small taxes are particularly poorly designed, and so you end up increasing taxes that are bad for growth.

Investors will be nervous when they see a list of tax increases, but they have little confidence in how much revenue it will generate.

Economist Mohamed El-Erian said ‘chaotic’ budget preparations were already damaging the economy. The former chairman of investment giant Pimco told the BBC:

There are numerous data points to suggest that prolonged speculation has left growth flat. You see this in the latest retail sales figures, which are the first decline since May. You see this in the decline in business confidence.

The economy has paid the price for a process that was delayed, full of speculation and contradictory signals from the Government. A budget has a journey and a destination. If you make the journey complicated, if it seems chaotic, it becomes difficult to get to your destination… This has made difficult choices even more difficult.

The warning echoes comments made over the weekend by former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane, who said the ‘financial frenzy’ of recent months had led to ‘paralysis’ among businesses and consumers.

We need decisive action to stamp out any idea of ​​further tax increases.

Paul Johnson, former director of the IFS, told Sky News:

You’ve seen thousands of people withdrawing money from their pensions because they’re worried about possible changes. You have impacted the housing market. It had an impact on business investments. This is real world damage.