Budget tax rises may be ‘fiscal fiction’ as pain delayed for election year, IFS warns

Labour MPs welcome scrapping of two-child benefit cap but worry about hefty future tax increases on constituents

Rachel Reeves has been warned that her plans for tax rises and spending restraint in the run-up to the next general election resemble a work of “fiscal fiction”, as MPs expressed concern about the impact of her budget on their constituents.

A day after the chancellor’s statement, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Reeves had chosen a high-risk strategy by backloading the squeeze to just before voters go to the polls in 2029.