Prime minister will say government will ignore ‘populist chorus of easy answers’ as it is set to raise taxes and rewrite fiscal rules in this week’s budget

Keir Starmer will be making a pre-budget speech later today in which he is expected to lay out what he says is the dire state of the fiscal reality of the country, but promise that “better days are ahead”.

In briefings given in advance of the speech, the prime minister is expected to say:

This is not 1997, when the economy was decent but public services were on their knees. And it’s not 2010, where public services were strong, but the public finances were weak. These are unprecedented circumstances.

And that’s before we even get to the long-term challenges ignored for 14 years: an economy riddled with weakness on productivity and investment, a state that needs urgent modernisation to face down the challenge of a volatile world.

The Conservatives have raised the tax burden to a 70-year high. We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income Tax, or VAT.

UK businesses are losing staff working time because of waits for healthcare or caring duties due to underfunded public services, the TUC says

Pubs and restaurants are warning of closures and a tough Christmas ahead if the budget raises taxes and ends a Covid-era relief on business rates

The prime minister has said content creators must be paid and vowed to ensure AI technology “does not begin to chip away” at press freedoms

Starmer has appointed Claire Reynolds, a former aide to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as his new political director in Downing Street