Reeves' £40bn 'tax gamble' and 'bombshell for Britain's strivers'

The Budget delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday dominates the front pages

The Budget delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday, the first by a Labour chancellor in 14 years, dominates the front pages.

The Times says it delivered the biggest rise in tax and borrowing for a generation and takes the tax burden to the highest level on record. It also homes in on the rise in borrowing, which it says is the biggest surge outside a crisis for more than 30 years.

In its editorial, it says there is much to criticise about the budget, chiefly that forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility suggest it won't deliver the long-run growth that the chancellor had promised.

"Nightmare on Downing Street" is the Daily Telegraph's headline. The paper says Reeves has crushed hopes of higher growth with a record "tax raid" that will damage living standards. It argues that millions of workers will now face two years' of stagnant pay as the tax raids squeeze businesses and staff, adding that the Budget was characterised by "mendacity" and broken election promises.

The Sun continues the seasonally scary theme, calling the budget a Halloween horror show - complete with a picture of the chancellor as a pumpkin. But it praises the freeze on fuel duty, an issue it had campaigned on. "At least she kept it down at the pump-kins," it quips.

As far as the Daily Mail is concerned, the budget is a "£40bn tax bombshell for Britain's strivers" that has prompted the country's growth prospects to take, in its words, a dive. It accuses the chancellor of using a sleight of hand to pilfer people's wallets.

The Guardian greets the first Labour budget in 14 years with the headline: "Return of tax and spend". It describes the measures as a "massive package". The chancellor, it suggests, is gambling on voters being happy that the government is raising money to try and patch up, in the paper's words, Britain's crumbling public services, notably health and schools.

For the Daily Mirror it was a "historic budget" raising record cash to transform the NHS and schools, and undoing 14 years of Tory negligence. It says the decision to raise taxes to fund schools and hospitals won't be universally welcomed but is "categorically right".

Away from the budget, the Times reports that Scotland's national reading charity has come under fire for altering the lyrics of what it calls "beloved" children's songs to remove references to alcohol and violence. In one example, the Scottish Book Trust changed the title of What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor to What Shall We Do with a Grumpy Pirate.

Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr tells the Telegraph that the changes are "ridiculous" and accuses the organisation of serving up what he calls "politically acceptable gruel". The trust defends itself, saying it is common for songs to evolve.

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