Rachel Reeves’ Damage Control Budget Raises UK Growth Fears (1)

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says growth is the solution to Britain’s economic problems. At her budget on Nov. 26, she faces the prospect of having to kill it.

Reeves has been boxed in by an £8 billion ($11 billion) increase in borrowing costs since her last fiscal statement in March, £6 billion lost to Labour’s rebellion over welfare cuts and a looming productivity downgrade by the Office for Budget Responsibility. She’ll need to raise around £35 billion, largely through taxes, Bloomberg Economics has estimated.

Rachel Reeves in Downing Street.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Onto a less productive economy, she will throw a fiscal tightening likely ...