Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will make "necessary choices" in the Budget after the "world has thrown more challenges our way". In an unusual pre-Budget speech in Downing Street, Reeves did not rule out a U-turn on Labour's general election manifesto pledge not to hike income tax, VAT or National Insurance. When journalists explicitly asked if the government was set to break that pledge she did not answer directly but said she was "setting the context for the Budget". Shadow chancellor