النص الأصلي (بالإنجليزية): Wednesday briefing: What may be in – and out – of Rachel Reeves’s ‘hokey cokey’ budget – (مترجم)
<p>In today’s newsletter: As the chancellor prepares to deliver one of the most heavily briefed budgets ever, tax rises, the two-child benefit cap and a ‘mansion tax’ are all on the table</p><p><strong>• </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/20/sign-up-for-the-first-edition-newsletter-our-free-news-email"><strong>Don’t get First Edition delivered to your inbox? Sign up here</strong></a></p><p>Good morning. If you haven’t noticed, the lead-up to this year’s budget has been unusually chaotic and drawn-out, with plenty of behind-the-scenes briefings and a whirlwind of speculation about what taxes will be hiked.</p><p>The challenge facing<strong> </strong>the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is plugging a financial hole of around £20bn and raising money to fund the services voters demand, while also keeping taxes at an acceptable level. (If you think you’ve got what it takes, try our brilliant <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2025/nov/20/you-be-the-chancellor-play-our-interactive-budget-game">interactive budget game</a>). The political backdrop to this budget is also significant – the prime minister is under siege, and needs to present something that will be well received by MPs.</p><p><strong>Budget</strong> | Rachel Reeves’s plan to cut cash Isa limits by 40% <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/nov/25/reeves-plan-cut-cash-isa-limit-could-raise-mortgage-rates-finance-bosses">could raise mortgage rates</a>, according to finance bosses. The chancellor is expected to cut the maximum amount people can put into tax-efficient cash individual savings accounts from £20,000 to £12,000 in Wednesday’s budget.</p><p><strong>Politics</strong> | Three more school contemporaries who claim to have witnessed Nigel Farage’s alleged teenage racism have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/25/three-more-ex-pupils-at-school-with-nigel-farage-reject-banter-claims">rejected the Reform UK leader’s suggestion</a> that it was “banter”, describing it as targeted, persistent and nasty.</p><p><strong>Ukraine </strong>| Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/25/trump-envoy-on-russia-ukraine-peace-deal">advised a senior Kremlin official</a> on how Vladimir Putin should pitch a Ukraine peace deal to the president, according to a transcript of their discussion published by Bloomberg.</p><p><strong>Criminal justice </strong>| Jury trials for all except the most serious crimes such as rape, murder and manslaughter <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov/25/moj-considering-extreme-proposal-to-scrap-jury-trials-for-all-but-most-serious-cases">are set to be scrapped</a> under radical proposals drawn up by David Lammy</p><p><strong>Media</strong> | The BBC has been pulled into a fresh row over its treatment of Donald Trump after a Reith lecturer accused the broadcaster of censoring his remarks on the US president. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch author and historian, said the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/25/rutger-bregman-accuses-bbc-of-censoring-his-reith-lecture-on-trump">BBC removed a “key line”</a> from a flagship address it had invited him to deliver.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/26/wednesday-briefing-what-may-be-in-and-out-of-rachel-reevess-hokey-cokey-budget">Continue reading…</a>