Autumn Budget 2025: Britain Is Trapped in an Economic Doom Loop
Pass the bottle, this is going to hurt...
The 26 November 2025 Autumn Budget confirms what millions of people already feel in their daily lives: Britain is stuck in an economic doom loop — and neither Labour nor the Conservatives seem willing to admit it, let alone fix it.
Taxes rise, borrowing rises, growth falls, and ministers respond by raising taxes again. Round and round we go.
Reform UK has warned repeatedly that this is where the country was heading. Sadly, this budget proves us right.
Savings Ignored, Borrowing Accelerated
Reform UK set out £25 billion of credible spending savings, almost all of which focused on reducing costs associated with foreign nationals. Those proposals were ignored entirely.
Instead, the Chancellor chose to borrow more.
Despite repeated claims about “fiscal responsibility”, Rachel Reeves has borrowed £21 billion more than planned in her very first year. At the same time, growth forecasts for the coming years have been downgraded yet again.
You cannot borrow your way to growth — and repeating the word “growth” does not make it appear.
A Budget That Punishes Work and Saving
This budget is not neutral. It is an assault on aspiration and an assault on saving.
Taxes are now just over 38% of GDP
Welfare spending is projected to be £16bn higher by 2029
That figure assumes welfare caseloads slow down — if they don’t, spending rises by £27bn
Meanwhile, Labour has now announced £26bn of net tax rises over five years, on top of £40bn in the previous budget.
That means Labour has raised taxes by £70 billion since taking office.
In barely over a year, Rachel Reeves has increased taxes almost more than any Chancellor in modern history — many of whom had far longer to do so.
This is not a pro-growth strategy. It is managed decline.
Two-Child Benefit Cap: Ideology Over Fairness
Labour’s version of scrapping the two-child benefit cap will cost over £3 billion.
Reform UK’s alternative — scrapping the cap only for working British couples — would have cost around £300 million.
That is the difference between targeted fairness and blank-cheque ideology.
Once again, Labour chose the more expensive, less focused option — while lecturing the country about “tough choices”.
Unlimited Money for Foreign Nationals
When it comes to foreign nationals, however, money appears to be limitless.
The Office for Budget Responsibility now estimates that spending on asylum accommodation will reach £15bn over the next decade, not the £4.5bn originally promised.
Reform UK is clear: foreign nationals should bear the brunt of difficult spending decisions, not working British families, pensioners, and savers.
Instead, this budget protects — and in some cases expands — costs associated with failed border control.
£1.8bn for Digital ID, No Mandate
Perhaps the most revealing decision in this budget is the allocation of £1.8bn for digital ID — a policy with no electoral mandate whatsoever.
Even worse, the government has said this money will come from the Home Office budget — the only department whose funding has been frozen in real terms.
In other words, money is being diverted away from fixing the border crisis and into a scheme that will restrict the freedoms of law-abiding British people.
This is not incompetence. It is a choice.
The Conservatives Built the Trap — Labour Is Living in It
None of this happened in a vacuum.
In government, the Conservative Party:
Ran a deficit 14 years in a row
Nearly tripled the national debt
Took the tax burden to its highest level since World War II
Built almost nothing of lasting economic value in return
Labour has not broken with this model. It has continued it, accelerated it, and wrapped it in different language.
Rachel Reeves is not charting a new course — she is following the same failed road, just faster.
Reform’s Alternative: Discipline First, Growth Second
Reform UK will not insult voters with fantasy economics.
We want lower taxes — but we understand that restoring discipline must come first. That means:
Bringing public spending under control
Prioritising British citizens
Cutting waste tied to mass migration
Restoring confidence for businesses and savers
Only then can taxes come down sustainably — and growth return.
This budget shows a government out of ideas, out of touch with the real economy, and trapped in a doom loop of its own making.
Britain does not need another tax-and-borrow budget.
It needs real reform.