Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Watch live as chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Richard Hughes holds a press conference after Labour’s Budget was announced on Wednesday, 30 October.
Rachel Reeves, the UK’s first female chancellor, announced tax hikes that will raise an eye-watering £40bn.
The chancellor said Labour had inherited a £22bn funding “black hole” from the Tories and would never again “allow a government to play fast and loose with public finances.”
Ms Reeves promised to “invest, invest, invest” in order to “fix public services” after months of warning the public of the “tough choices” ahead.
She confirmed increases to employers’ national insurance contributions, stamp duty on second homes and a scrapping of VAT exemption on private schools fees, and a new duty on vaping liquids.
Ahead of the press conference, the OBR said Ms Reeves’ plan “delivers a large, sustained increase in spending, taxation, and borrowing.”
