“Chaos” at Number 11: Five out of Six Brokers Slam Run-Up to 2025 Budget

28 November 2025

84% of brokers describe pre-Budget period as “very messy” in Black & White Bridging poll —leaks and revisions blamed for uncertainty

Brokers think the run-up to this year’s Budget was “chaos”, according to polling undertaken by Black & White Bridging.

Black & White asked brokers if they would describe the run-up to the Budget as “chaotic”. Five out of every six brokers polled, 84 per cent of the sample, agreed, saying they thought the run-up to the Budget had been “chaotic” and “very messy”.

Only one in every nine of the brokers surveyed, 11 per cent, disagreed, while another 5 per cent said they weren’t sure.

The survey was conducted by Black & White Bridging over the week leading up to the Budget, held on Wednesday 26th November 2025.

Damien Druce, chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, said:

“At the industry’s most forgiving, I think the run-up to the Budget might be described as ‘turbulent’, but 84 per cent of brokers describing Ms. Reeves best efforts as ‘very messy’ paints a pretty damning picture of disarray in Number 11. It’s a near-consensus among industry professionals, many of whom have spent the last month navigating client concerns over potential policy shifts. Uncertainty over property taxes and housing policies has undermined sentiment, echoing wider concerns about radical changes that could disrupt property markets. We have heard from brokers telling us that the constant leaks and revisions have made it impossible to advise clients with any confidence. The Chancellor is entirely to blame for causing a great deal of this economic uncertainty over the last month.”

While the poll captures immediate frustrations, previous research from Black & White Bridging has suggested a more optimistic long-term view, with 72 per cent of brokers predicting growth in the bridging market for the remainder of 2025, despite the disruption caused by Ms. Reeves’ late Budget.

Damien Druce concluded:

“However messy the run-up, I think the Budget was a colossal missed opportunity. We need to reform our welfare system and tackle its ballooning bill. The welfare state was intended to be a safety net for people who found themselves in difficulties or to provide help for those unable to work because of disability. I was brought up on a council estate, in poverty, and I’ve always strived for more based on hard work, not hand-outs. The idea that living on benefits might become a way of life for generations of workless people would have been anathema to William Beveridge, the architect of the welfare state.

“Rather than reforming welfare entitlements and cutting the country’s spending though, Ms. Reeves is scrapping the two-child benefit cap, costing the country an additional £3bn. Labour MPs have already scuppered an earlier attempt to reform Personal Independence Payments. Given the Chancellor wants to cut debt, that meant more tax, and without an increase in income tax, that in turn meant raising more money from property.

“Instead, Ms. Reeves should have reduced welfare spending, saving billions, keeping taxes down and boosting growth. Sadly, that would have required vision, political will and leadership. All things that Ms. Reeves and this government do not appear to possess.”