Rachel Reeves is considering increasing alcohol duties in next month’s Budget.The Chancellor has not ruled out putting up tax on beer, wine and spirits as part of efforts to plug what Labour claims is a £22 billion hole in the public finances.

As the October 30 Budget looms, Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, stressed that Ms Reeves will need to spend more than the one per cent year-over-year real public spending increases which had been pencilled in by her predecessor Jeremy Hunt.

Some economists have linked the drop to officials' warnings of a "painful" Budget at the end of August, although it is impossible to prove a link. There were "major corrections" - or double digit falls - for consumers' perception of the general economic situation,

UK government borrowing came in higher than forecast in the first five months of the fiscal year, keeping Chancellor Rachel Reeves under pressure to raise taxes to balance the books in her budget next month.

Rachel Reeves has admitted she accepted money for clothes, as the backlash over gifts from donors threatened to overshadow the Labour Party conference this weekend. The Chancellor has received almost £7,

British government debt hit 100% of economic output for the first time in recent history and there was another large budget deficit last month, adding to the problems for finance minister Rachel Reeves as she readies her tax and spending plans.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is still expected to press ahead with her plan to cut the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners despite being handed a £10 billion budget boost by the Bank of England.

Rachel Reeves is under pressure to re-think the winter fuel allowance cut after the Bank of England threw the Chancellor a lifeline.