UK politics live: Starmer to back embattled Rachel Reeves as he launches defence of Budget tax hikes

political reporter Millie Cooke reports…

Cabinet minister Darren Jones insists he does not feel misled as allegations mount that Rachel Reeves misled the public about the size of the financial black hole she faced ahead of the Budget.

Asked if he felt misled, he told Sky News: “Not at all, because the OBR goes through about five cycles before it gets to the budget, the number changes. “You don’t actually know the final number until the end of the process.

“And all that process does is talk about how much money they think you can get when you haven’t allocated it yet. That’s before you get to the headroom. That’s the amount you put aside for a rainy day. The Chancellor has been very clear that we need more than we’ve had in the past.”

Asked whether the chancellor misled the Cabinet following the news that he had convinced ministers that the public finances were in bad shape when he knew the forecasts were improving, Mr Jones said: “We don’t release minutes of Cabinet meetings. But look, the chancellor didn’t say anything at the time. The budget was the one delivered on 26 November. But as I said, he had to raise more money because, first of all, we needed headroom.”

Good morning and welcome Independent‘s political blog. Here are the main political headlines of the day:

• Sir Keir Starmer is set to support Rachel Reeves and her Budget in a speech in London this morning. It comes after Ms Reeves was accused of misleading the public by lying about the economic forecasts she received to justify a £26bn tax increase.

• Your party announced its new name after months of confusion and indecision. Following the vote at the party’s inaugural conference, Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that the party would continue to be called Your Party.

• A court in Bangladesh sentenced Labor MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in prison after finding her guilty of corruption related to a government land project. The Hampstead and Highgate MP, who denied the allegations, is unlikely to serve the sentence as the UK does not have an extradition agreement with Bangladesh.

Sir Keir Starmer’s speech will appear to move beyond the growing debate over whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves lied about the extent of the government’s financial woes.

At the morning media briefing on Sunday, Ms Reeves denied lying about the size of the Budget black hole to justify a £26bn tax increase.

When pressed by Trevor Phillips on Sky News about whether he had lied to the public by not making it clear that he had a £4bn surplus rather than a deficit, he said: “Of course I didn’t.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said on Friday it had notified the chancellor as early as September 17 that the budget deficit had improved and was eliminated entirely by October, but Ms Reeves suggested tax rises were still needed in November to close the £20bn deficit.

The Chancellor denied breaching the manifesto when speaking to Laura Kuenssberg: “We did not breach the manifesto.

“But am I asking employees to pay a little more? Yes, I am.”

He also confirmed that he felt he would be chancellor in the coming years.

In what will be seen as an attempt to shore up his embattled chancellor, the Prime Minister will claim on Monday that Ms Reeves has ensured economic stability by raising billions of pounds more in so-called fiscal “headroom” to hedge against future market shocks.

He will also defend his decision to spend billions more on benefits and reject the idea of ​​trying to appear “tough” on benefits for the sake of politics – but will also promise to reform the system and get more young people currently on sick leave to get into work.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin writes: