A minister told the House of Commons just hours before the Budget that the Ministerial Code will be updated, following accusations that Chancellor Rachel Reeves breached it.
In a move branded hypocritical, the Minister for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds addressed the House of Commons today saying the government will bring forward an updated version of the code.
There are questions now being raised over whether the new version will simply redefine what is considered a breach to cover Reeves’ back, namely in points relating to briefing the media.
Political commentator Lee Harris posted a video on X commenting: “This is hilarious. Rachel Reeves is rightly accused of breaking the ministerial code by ‘prematurely disclosing’ details of the budget to the media. Number 10 say they disagree and will publish an ‘updated’ ministerial code soon. You literally couldn’t make it up. Hypocrites!”
Reeves was accused of prematurely disclosing details of the upcoming Budget to the media, and if a minister is found to have breached the code, they can lose their job.
During a round of broadcast interviews while attending the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington DC, the Chancellor signalled she would rewrite the way Government debt is measured.
House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle believes it can “hardly be classed as a leak” given that Reeves voluntarily gave interviews on camera, but the premature disclosure was a “supreme discourtesy” to the house.
Sir Lindsay expressed his disappointment in a scathing statement to the Commons, telling MPs: “In media interviews last week the Chancellor announced that she intended to introduce changes to the fiscal rules relating to the funding of day-to-day spending through tax receipts and to the measurement of the public debt.
“These are major new policy announcements with significant and wide-ranging implications for the Government’s fiscal policy and for the public finances.
“It is evident to me that this should therefore have been made in the first instance in this House and not to the world’s media.
“This principle is clearly and unambiguously set out in paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code. While this can hardly be described as a leak – the Chancellor herself gave interviews on the record and on camera – the premature disclosure of the contents of the Budget has always been regarded as a supreme discourtesy to the House.
“Indeed, I still regard it as such. I am very, very disappointed that the Chancellor expects the House to wait nearly a full week to hear her repeat these announcements in the Budget statement on Wednesday.”
He also blasted Reeves for going “around the world telling everybody” about key details in the Budget, and told ministers to “get your acts together”.
Speaking about Reeves’ first Budget tomorrow Wednesday October 30, Sir Lindsay added “we’ll all have heard it” already.
It’s expected the Chancellor will announce a cut to the earnings threshold at which employers pay national insurance, and an increase in the rate of contributions.
Capital gains tax, inheritance tax and fuel duty are also expected to be mentioned.
The £2 cap on bus fares introduced by Conservatives will be lifted to save cash.
