Rachel Reeves skewered by furious GB News star after £50bn black hole bombshell

Rachel Reeves could be out of a career by the Autumn Budget, according to GB News guest Aaron Bastani. This follows the reports that the Chancellor would likely be forced to raise taxes to plug a £51 billion black hole in the public finances. During an appearance on the programme, the businessman claimed: "We now have an answer as to why Rachel Reeves was crying in Parliament.

"She was crying in response to the inability to pass legislation that would've taken several billions of pounds off people on various benefits and she was crying because Labour's inability to pass that legislation." Aaron continued: "It's the first time that something has failed at the second reading, I think, since the mid-1980s with Margaret Thatcher and Sunday opening times."

He added: "It doesn't happen very often, barely happens at all, really over the last 100 years.

"She was crying because if you can't get that through you're not going to be able to get cuts to get this figure down which therefore locks in tax rises. That's why she was crying, she was crying because come the Autumn Budget her political career is over.

"There are, of course, other ways the money could be generated. It's important to say, eight billion of that 51 billion can be found from just not moving tax thresholds, which, let's be honest, they were going to do anyway. They weren't going to move before 2029," Aaron claimed.

This comes after a fresh report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research revealed Reeves may be forced to break her core manifesto promise of not raising taxes on "working people" to meet her self-imposed borrowing rules.

To reduce spending pressures, NIESR called for a greater focus on reducing economic inactivity, which could bring down welfare spending.

The institute is forecasting modest economic growth of 1.3% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026. That means Britain will rank mid-table among the G7 group of advanced economies.

Professor Stephen Millard, deputy director for macroeconomics at NIESR, said the government faced tough choices ahead: "With growth at only 1.3% and inflation above target, things are not looking good for the chancellor, who will need to either raise taxes or reduce spending or both in the October budget."

The Government's failure to pass planned welfare reforms has resulted in extra spending of £13.7bn, while the decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Allowance has resulted in extra spending of £1.5bn.