Rachel Reeves is to borrow an extra £1.3 trillion despite her claim to be cutting the UK's debt, a new analysis shows. It will bring the nation's total debt to a £3.5 trillion (£3,500 billion). The figures were published by former Cabinet Minister Sir John Redwood. He said: "Rachel Reeves is building a debt mountain whilst claiming to bring the debt down."

Sir John, a Conservative, said Ms Reeves had run up an extra £675 billion bill to cover the cost of renewing existing borrowing through loans, known as gilts, in her Budget. And this is in addition to £628 billion in increased government spending over the next five years. Together, these two bills create a "debt mountain" of £1.3 trillion, he said.

Global economic body the OECD has warned that the Chancellor's tax rises are killing off growth and hiking unemployment.

The international economic body also revealed that the Chancellor will miss her inflation target every year of the forecasts.

In its latest economic outlook, the influential organisation said UK growth will slow from 1.4% this year to 1.2% next year, before edging up to 1.3% in 2027, with "substantial" downside risks of the fiscal tightening plans.

It kept its forecast unchanged for 2025, but upgraded the prediction for 2026 from the 1% pencilled in three months ago.

Unemployment, according to their models, is set to hit 5% in 2027, comparable with the Covid pandemic and the Winter of Discontent.

The document made repeated references to cost pressures being heaped on businesses by the government, including Ms Reeves' hike last year to employers' National Insurance and continuing increases to the minimum wage.

The report comes amid mounting pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves over last week's Budget, with accusations that she misled voters over the state of the public finances ahead of the event, while businesses have criticised it for failing to include measures to boost growth.

The Chancellor announced £26 billion worth of tax rises at the November 26 budget, with measures including a freeze on income tax thresholds which will leave 1.7 million people paying more, taking the tax burden to an all-time high, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the report further confirms that Labour's "jobs tax" - last year's hike in employers' National Insurance Contributions - is causing rising unemployment.

He added: "Rachel Reeves promised growth, but growth is expected to weaken next year, because of her choices. This is the cost of policies that punish work, businesses and investment."

A new poll revealed that Labour is now less trusted by voters on the economy than Liz Truss in the wake of the 2022 'Mini Budget', and Jeremy Corbyn in 2019.

Just 10% of voters say they trust Labour with the country's finances, behind both the Tories and Reform UK.

The landmark YouGov poll found that over one third of voters believe the Chancellor exaggerated economic bad news in the run-up to the Budget as a precursor to breaking her manifesto pledges on tax, compared to just 18% who believe she was broadly honest.