The pound has sunk to a seven-month low and the FTSE 100 has seen £22 billion wiped out after Rachel Reeves pre-Budget speech.
The Chancellor kept avoiding questions when asked if there will be tax rises in the Autumn Budget this month on 26 November.
On Tuesday morning the pound plummeted by as much as 0.4% against the dollar t0 $1.3086, this is the lowest since April.
The FTSE 250 sunk by 0.9% and Reeves told Brits you “will all have to contribute” to reduce the country’s debt.
The Chancellor said, “If we are to build the future of Britain together, we will all have to contribute to that effort.
“Each of us must do our bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future.”
Reeves was asked over the government’s promises not to increase VAT, national insurance of income tax, she said, “As Chancellor, I have to face the world as it is not the world that I want it to be.
“And when challenges come our way, the only question is how to respond to them, not whether to respond or not. And as I respond at the Budget on the November 26, my focus will be on getting NHS waiting lists down, getting the cost of living down, and also getting the national debt down.
She said he upcoming fiscal statement is “led by this Government style of fairness and opportunity and focused entirely on the priorities of the British people”.
She added: “Protecting our NHS, reducing our national debt, and improving the cost of living. There has been a lot speculation about the choices that I will make, I understand that.
These are important choices that will shape the future of our country for years to come. I want people to understand the circumstances we are facing, the principles guiding my choices, and why I believe they will be the right choices.”
Samuel Fuller, the director at Financial Markets Online, shared: “Rachel Reeves clearly likes to prepare people for bad news.
“And while there was precious little new in what she said this morning, there were heavy hints that the news is about to get bad.
Her ‘ironclad’ commitment to the fiscal rules in the face of Britain’s soaring welfare bill was supposed to demonstrate her resolve and instill confidence, but it’s what she didn’t say – about tax rises – that has got markets spooked.
“UK stock markets wilted, and the Pound extended its slide against both the Euro and the Dollar, in response to a speech that was long on bad vibes and short on detail.
In the run up to last year’s Budget, the Chancellor spent weeks dropping hints that it would hurt.
If her plan was to get the bad news out early and then surprise the country into a ‘well that wasn’t so bad’ relief rally, it failed.
“Now she is hinting darkly again while the Government tries to find a form of words that will allow it to claim that an increase in personal taxes isn’t, in fact, a breach of its manifesto pledge to not increase personal taxes.”
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