The chaotic UK Budget leak ruined Rachel Reeves' speech and did nothing to help Labour government's image
The scenes were shambolic as the OBR released the details of the Budget before Rachel Reeves got up to speak.
The House of Commons was packed as Scottish questions drew to a close late on Wednesday morning.
MPs squeezed in to their seats ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions and with the Autumn Budget to follow. But as everyone waited in anticipation for the biggest Commons event of the year, there was a flurry throughout the chamber.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) - the Treasury watchdog - had released its Budget analysis more than half an hour before the Chancellor made her speech. It meant the Budget had been released ahead of time and changed the outlook of the whole event.
Everyone knew the detail of the financial decisions Rachel Reeves was about to announce before she had said a word. To make things worse, Sir Keir Starmer had to answer questions in the Commons for half an hour before Ms Reeves took to the despatch box.
Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch could not believe her luck.
She blasted the Prime Minister for his government’s “complete shamble” of a lead up to the Budget.
The PM hit back, saying the Liz Truss Budget was “the biggest shambles in living history”. But he and his ministers must have been livid.
Ms Reeves was flapping and did some last-minute preparation. She wrote down some notes at the top of her speech.
She was helped by Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray and DWP minister Torsten Bell, who passed a phone for the Chancellor to read from.
Just as Ms Reeves was about to stand up, shadow chancellor Mel Stride made a point of order and suggested the leak may have been “a criminal act”.
The Chancellor finally got to her feet and lamented the leak as “deeply disappointing”. But the damage was done and the whole speech was an anti-climax.
Rather than hanging on her every word, as is usually case, MPs were waiting for the whole thing to be over. The Tories spent most of the time talking between themselves.
There were shouts of “just skip to the end” and “we’ve already read it”. But Ms Reeves ploughed on.
She announced an extra £820 million for the Scottish Government, extended the freeze to income tax rates, increased the tax on profits made by gambling firms from online bets and scrapped the two-child benefit cap.
The lifting of the benefit limit was the only time that Labour MPs properly cheered throughout the whole thing, with some of them waving their order papers in the air. It summed up a surreal session where the chamber was flat throughout on what is usually one of Westminster’s most high energy days.
The scrapping of the two-child benefit cap and extra money for Scotland will be welcomed by many north of the Border. But politics is so often about optics.
And the Budget being leaked before it was announced - although not the UK government’s fault - does nothing to help Labour’s image.
It helps the narrative this administration is chaotic and cannot seem to get anything right.
Ms Reeves will be fuming at the OBR for stealing her limelight. As will her Scottish colleagues, who hoped this could be a turning point for their fortunes.
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