The Conservatives have launched an online petition calling on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves. It comes after the Chancellor was accused of misleading Brits over the state of the country’s finances before the Budget.

The petition seeks to pile pressure on the Prime Minister to “do the right thing” by sacking Ms Reeves. It comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published an account of its communication with the Treasury on Friday.

A letter from the OBR revealed it told the Chancellor as early as September 17 that prevailing economic winds meant a black hole in the UK’s finances would be much smaller than previously believed. It then informed Ms Reeves in October that the spending gap had closed altogether.

But the Budget on Wednesday came after weeks of warnings from Ms Reeves that she would need to make “hard choices” in her financial plan.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch posted on X: “Sack Reeves Now. We have learned that the Chancellor misrepresented the OBR’s forecasts. She sold her Benefits Street Budget on a lie. Honesty matters. Tell Starmer what he must already know – she has to go.”

Downing Street has so far defended Ms Reeves. A No.10 spokesperson insisted on Friday that the Chancellor did not mislead the public or markets when she warned of difficult decisions.

The website reads: “Rachel Reeves wanted her Budget for Benefits Street so badly, she lied about the OBR’s forecasts. All so she could justify breaking her promise not to raise tax on working people. Labour’s lies are costing us more and more. Sign the petition to make Keir Starmer do the right thing and sack Rachel Reeves.”

On November 4, Ms Reeves had set the scene for the Budget with a Downing Street speech which suggested tax rises were needed to secure the UK’s economic future and poor productivity growth would have “consequences for the public finances” in terms of lower tax revenue.

But the letter from the OBR to the Treasury Select Committee of MPs appeared to suggest an improved tax take from growing wages and inflation meant that gap had diminished before she even made the speech.

Ben Zaranko, an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, questioned the rationale behind the briefings in the run-up to the Budget. He wrote on social media: “At no point in the process did the OBR have the Government missing its fiscal rules by a large margin. Leaves me baffled by the months of speculation and briefing.

“Was the plan to lead everyone to expect a big income tax rise, then surprise them on the day by not doing it..?”

At the Budget on Wednesday, Ms Reeves hiked taxes by £26billion, including by freezing thresholds on income tax. The tax hikes came in response to downgraded economic forecasts but also increased welfare spending because of the abolition of the two-child benefit cap and the Labour revolt over attempts to curb the benefits bill.

Ms Reeves also used some of the tax take to build herself a bigger buffer against her borrowing rules.

Mrs Badenoch posted on social media: “Yet more evidence, as if we needed it, that the Chancellor must be sacked. For months Reeves has lied to the public to justify record tax hikes to pay for more welfare. Her Budget wasn’t about stability. It was about politics: bribing Labour MPs to save her own skin. Shameful.”

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride called on Ms Reeves to resign. He said: “Rachel Reeves’ broken tax promises and the briefing debacle in the run-up to the Budget have had real consequences for our economy and for people across the country. The Chancellor must now do the right thing and step down.”