Rachel Reeves claims £66bn tax raid made UK ‘stronger’

Rachel Reeves has launched a defence over her two tax-heavy Budgets, claiming they enabled a stronger fiscal buffer and shifted the tax system towards rewarding work . In her first major speech since been ousted as Chancellor, Reeves said she made difficult choices that were not without controversy but defended them as helping end the UK s failed austerity experiment . Reeves raised taxes by £66bn across her two Budgets through targeting businesses, the wealthy and savers. In the Office for Budget Responsibility report following her 2025 Budget, it was forecast that Britain s tax-to-GDP ratio would reach a post-war high of 38.3 per cent of economic output. In my two Budgets, I raised taxes to build a stronger fiscal buffer and to invest in public services, Reeves said, defending her record in a speech at Harvard University. “There was no way to raise revenue on the scale required which would be free of pain.” Reeves raised her fiscal headroom to £24bn in the 20