UK FISCAL: Chancellor To Deliver First Labour Budget For 14 Years At 1230GMT

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is set to deliver the first Budget statement from a Labour gov't since March 2010 this afternoon at 1230GMT (0830ET, 1330CET). Reeves will speak in the House of Commons following prime minister's questions (the final session that former PM and current Leader of the Opposition Rishi Sunak will take part in), and a live stream of the statement can be found here. 

• The significant time period between Labour's election win on 4 July and the Budget today - the longest gap between a new gov't and its first budget since 1970 - has allowed for rampant media speculation regarding the Budget's likely contents.
• The tone taken by PM Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves towards the Budget has been one of fixing the problems they say were left by the previous Conservative administration. However, these comments' downbeat nature has contributed to a negative feedback loop.
• As the latest More in Common poll reports, "Heading into the Budget this Autumn, Britons are deeply worried. 68 per cent say they are pessimistic about the Budget and the word cloud on the budget shows how concerned people are. The top words used to describe how people feel about the budget are “worried”, “nervous”, and “apprehensive”. Such emotional tension before a scheduled budget event is deeply unusual."

Chart 1. Sir Keir Starmer Approval Rating