SNP claims about Rachel Reeves ‘chaos budget’ are Mostly True

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has rejected claims she misled the public about the nation's finances in the run-up to her Budget.

The SNP reacted with dismay at Rachel Reeves’ budget announcement, claiming the chancellor’s plans would create “chaos”. 

In a social media post widely-shared by party politicians and supporters, SNP communications director Tom French made a series of claims about the budget and Labour’s performance in government. 

Rachel Reeves’ chaos budget: Energy bills £400 higher than promised from April. Taxes up £26billion. UK unemployment at a 4-year high. Economic growth slashed every year. Families worse off.

The Ferret Fact Service took a look at some of the claims in the post.

‘Energy bills £400 higher than promised from April’

The post claims that, from April, energy bills will be £400 higher than Labour had promised they would be. 

Decreasing energy bills formed a central part of Labour’s election campaign last year. 

Keir Starmer and his now-energy minister Ed Miliband repeatedly pledged to reduce energy bills by up to £300 during the campaign, and have continued to back their pledge in interviews since Labour came to power. 

In response to Ferret Fact Service about the widely-shared SNP post, the Scottish political party argued the claim was based on the difference in the energy price cap in July 2024, when Labour politicians made the claim, and the price now. French then added that figure to the £300 that Labour said would be saved under their government to reach £487.

In July 2024, the price cap was set at £1,568. It is currently £1,755. This is an increase of £187 since Labour got into power.

The energy price cap is the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge people for each unit of energy. It's based on average household use and isn’t the limit on how high your actual bill could be.

Labour had promised to reduce bills by “up to” £300, without guaranteeing the maximum amout But in various social media messages, interviews and other public statements, leading party members including Starmer, Miliband and Rachel Reeves stated the party would bring down energy bills, without clearly stating a time frame. A timeline was not stated in this tweet by Keir Starmer, for example. Rachel Reeves made a similar statement, but pledged to bring down energy bills by £300 by 2030, rather than by 2025. 

The party’s promise was based on an analysis of the party’s plans for increased renewable energy by think-tank Ember. It estimated the average household energy bill would be about £300 lower in 2030 than in 2023, if the UK Government met its renewable energy commitments.

Labour has backed away from such a commitment since the election, but in the budget Reeves claimed £150 would come off energy bills next year as a result of scrapping a home insulation policy introduced by the Conservatives. 

Ferret Fact Service verdict: Half True

‘Taxes up £26billion’

An increase in taxes in the budget was confirmed by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in its analysis. The OBR is the public body that provides independent economic forecasts and analysis of public finances.

The OBR’s report states that “the budget also raises taxes by amounts rising to £26bn in 2029-30, through freezing personal tax thresholds and a host of smaller measures”. 

Rachel Reeves said she was "asking ordinary people to pay a little bit more" as she unveiled the new measures, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap, a restriction on benefits that was mitigated in Scotland.

Ferret Fact Service verdict: True

‘UK unemployment at a 4-year high’.

The current UK unemployment rate is five per cent, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, which cover July to September 2025.

Unemployment in the UK has not been higher since the beginning of 2021, more than four years ago. The last time it was higher was Oct-Dec 2020, when it reached 5.3 per cent. In March-May 2022 it fell to an all time recent low of  3.7 per cent. 

Ferret Fact Service verdict: True

Economic growth slashed every year.

The OBR announced it was predicting that the UK’s economy would grow at a slower rate from next year, after Reeves’ budget. 

From 2026 to 2029, the body predicts that growth will be lower than it had forecasted in March this year.

This downgrading was blamed on ‘productivity performance’ that had been lower than expected. Productivity is a measure of the economic output per hour worked.

However, in November the OBR also predicted that GDP would grow in real terms by 1.5 per cent in 2025, which is an increase on its March forecast of one per cent growth

Ferret Fact Service verdict: Mostly True