A senior official at the UK’s official forecaster has said he does not believe the chancellor was being misleading when she said the state of the public finances were “very challenging” in the run-up to the Budget.

Prof David Miles from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told MPs Rachel Reeves’s comments ahead of announcing her tax and spending plans were “not inconsistent” with the situation she faced.

Reeves has rejected claims she misled the public about the country’s finances after the OBR’s economic forecasts revealed they were better than widely thought.

However, Prof Miles said despite the forecast, the chancellor still faced a “very difficult Budget and very difficult choices”.

He said the OBR raised concerns with Treasury officials about leaks to the media in the run-up to the Budget, adding: “I think it was clear that we didn’t find this helpful. We made that clear.”

But he said the watchdog was not “at war” with the Treasury.

A political row has broken out over the information shared with the public over the past few weeks over the health of the economy and the choices required to be made by the chancellor.

Last week’s Budget included a total £26bn of tax rises, with £8bn set to be raised by extending the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds for a further three years. The two-child benefit cap was also scrapped.

In the build-up to the Budget, Reeves repeatedly talked about a downgrade to the UK’s predicted economic productivity that would make it hard for her to meet her borrowing rules, fuelling speculation that the income tax rates themselves would be raised, which would break a manifesto pledge.

On 4 November, she used a rare pre-Budget speech in Downing Street to warn the UK’s productivity was weaker “than previously thought” and that had “consequences for the public finances too, in lower tax receipts”.

However, it has since emerged that the OBR, which assesses the government’s tax and spending policies, had told the Treasury on 31 October that it was on course to meet its main borrowing rule by £4.2bn due to the downgrade in productivity being offset by higher wages, which increase the government’s tax receipts.

The Conservatives have claimed the chancellor gave an overly pessimistic impression as a “smokescreen” to raise taxes in order to increase welfare spending, with leader Kemi Badenoch claiming she “lied to the public”.

The £4.2bn buffer was less than the £9.9bn Reeves had left herself at the previous Budget, and Prof Miles told a committee of MPs, still “posed a significant” challenge to the government, which wanted to increase the figure overall.

The so-called headroom chancellors have left themselves – essentially a buffer to fall back on – has been smaller in recent years. Prior to November 2022, chancellors tended to create a £20bn-£30bn buffer.

Questioned by MPs over the chancellor not mentioning the surplus in the forecast, Prof Miles said the £4.2bn, while a positive number, “was by a tiny margin”, adding that the OBR was not actually looking for it to be interpreted as “this is very, very good news, there is no hole to fill – as people were saying”.

“I don’t think it was misleading, for my own view, for the chancellor to say that the fiscal position was very challenging at the beginning of that week.

“The chancellor was saying that this was a very difficult Budget and very difficult choices needed to be made. And I don’t think that that was in itself inconsistent with the final pre-measures assessment we’d made, which, although it showed a very small positive amount of so-called headroom, it was wafer thin.”

Prof Miles added that the £4.2bn buffer would also have been reduced to minus £3bn because the OBR’s forecast did not take into account the welfare and winter fuel payment U-turns made by the government.

India’s primary market is gearing up for a blockbuster year-end, with a string of public offerings in December signalling that the IPO boom of 2025 is far from over. The last month alone is expected to raise almost Rs 30,000 crore, making it one of the hottest month in what has already become a landmark year of record breaking equity issuances.December, the number of IPOs is set to soar to about 25, led by five major listings: ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co (Rs 10,000 crore), Meesho (Rs 5,400 crore), Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions (Rs 5,200 crore), Fractal Analytics (Rs 4,900 crore) and Juniper Green Energy (Rs 3,000 crore). Meanwhile, October saw 10 IPOs, attracting Rs 45,188 crore, followed by nine issues in November that raised Rs 23,613 crore. Market watchers describe the momentum as evidence of both strong business confidence and a selective yet optimistic investor base. Neha Agarwal, managing director and head of equity capital markets at JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd, told ET that the strength of the pipeline reflects more than a rush to close the year. “The IPO rush is driven not by indiscriminate issuance but by a meaningful confluence of entrepreneurial energy and discerning investor appetite,” she said, pointing to the sharp investor preference for high-quality companies. “What’s encouraging is the quality-first filtration investors are applying – strong management, governance and credible business models are being rewarded, while anything with uncertainty rightly faces pushback.” Alongside large offers, a second wave of mid-sized IPOs is also poised to raise capital. Wakefit Innovations (Rs 1,500 crore), Innovatiview (Rs 1,500 crore), Park Medi World (Rs 1,200 crore), Nephroplus (Rs 1,000 crore) and precision engineering player Aequs (Rs 1,000 crore) are among the next set of issuers. Meesho and Aequs have already confirmed their subscription window for December 3–5, while the rest are awaiting final calendar announcements. The surge has also been helped by the depth of liquidity in domestic markets. Systematic investment plan (SIP) contributions of about Rs 30,000 crore every month continue to offer a dependable capital base as foreign flows fluctuate. Domestic institutional investors have also delivered steady participation for two straight years, giving investment bankers confidence that the surge of issuance can be absorbed without market disruption. Another defining feature of the current cycle has been the dominance of offer for sale (OFS) deals, with close to two-thirds of recent IPO funding coming from shareholder exits. Despite this, the market has remained stable, said Gaurav Sood, managing director and head of equity capital markets at Avendus Capital. “We believe this is not just a year-end rush but the culmination of a record year for India’s primary markets,” he said. He added that the system’s liquidity strength has ensured smooth execution of large deals across multiple sectors. “When you combine this domestic flow strength with the proven ability to execute large and diverse deals across sectors, it’s clear why the market is comfortable running a heavy December calendar and why promoter confidence, filing volumes and broader IPO momentum are likely to stay elevated into 2026,” he told ET. The fundraising numbers reflect the same optimism. According to Agarwal, main-board IPO issuances have already crossed last year’s milestone of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, and the month has only just begun.

British TV personality Jamie Laing’s vegan sweets brand Candy Kittens is set to acquire snack company Graze in a deal between the former’s parent company and packaged goods giant Unilever.

The upcoming deal with German firm Katjes International is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026 for an undisclosed sum.

The sale of Graze, a popular nuts and snack bar brand in the UK, marks Unilever’s latest effort to offload under-performing brands in its line-up and prioritise its personal care and beauty products.

Unilever said on Monday that it will focus on producing condiments and other packaged products to “sharpen” its catalogue of goods, which will mean “pruning the portfolio where relevant”.

Graze was founded in 2005 as an internet-based snack delivery service selling healthy and often nut-based treats. It gradually began to sell in supermarkets and retailers.

In 2019, it was acquired by Unilever, reportedly for around £100m ($132m), but has under-performed, with sales falling in recent years.

Now, its future will be “better realised under new ownership” by Katjes and Laing’s Candy Kittens Group, given their expertise in consumer goods, said Unilever in its statement.

Laing said that Graze has changed the way the UK thinks about healthier snacking and is “perfect” for Candy Kittens’ plans for growth.

Laing has hosted programmes on the BBC and is known for his participation in the reality show Made in Chelsea and Strictly Come Dancing.

The deal is a “massive moment” for his eco-conscious firm, which sells vegan treats, Laing said online.

“When we started out, the thought of a company like Unilever buying our business was the dream. Today we’re the ones buying a business from them. The tables have turned,” he said.

Retail analyst Jonathan De Mello told BBC News that Graze had become “a bit of a money sink” for Unilever so it was not surprising that the brand was being spun off.

“Unilever had originally planned the acquisition of Graze as a way of increasing their share of the DTC [direct-to-consumer] market, but this market has shrunk considerably in favour of traditional product purchasing, i.e. supermarkets,” Mr De Mello said.

He added that “a more hands-on approach” could benefit Graze, which a smaller business like Candy Kittens could provide.

Unilever chief executive Fernando Fernandez outlined plans to divest the firm’s food brands as part of efforts to fund the company’s turnaround, after he stepped into the role in March.

Among the other food brands the UK-based consumer goods giant has sold off this year is The Vegetarian Butcher. It acquired cosmetics companies like Wild.

The Marmite- and Dove soap-owner is also set to spin off its ice cream division which carries well-known brands like Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s and Walls as part of its overhaul.