Reader Q&A: Our money and economics correspondents answer your Budget 2026 questions – live

The 2026 budget has been revealed; how will it affect you personally, will it change the country and has chancellor John Healey done enough to prepare for the challenges ahead? Our money and economics editors Hilary Osborne and Heather Stewart are on line now answering your questions Sign up or sign in to join the discussion. Post your questions in the comments below. FelonMarmer asks : What is going to stop landlords just transferring their tax increase onto tenants, while complaining about how hard done by they are?

Heather says : Unfortunately, there’s nothing to stop landlords passing their higher tax bills onto their tenants, aside from what the local rental market will bear. Indeed, the Office for Budget Responsibility did suggest one result of this and other recent policies (the 2p rise this year followed another 2p last year) could be “a steady rise in rents,” as some landlords whack up rents and others leave the market altogether. I think John Healey’s answer would probably be a fairness one - that income made through renting out property should be taxed more heavily than that earned through work. Heather says: That’s a really good question: Labour strategists are adamant that they wouldn’t. I can’t help thinking that voters were so convinced the public services were in a dire state, they could…