There will be no more tax rises or borrowing for the duration of this government’s term, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

She told business leaders there will not be another budget like her maiden announcement, which included a rise in employers’ national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage.

“I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes. And that is why at this budget, we did wipe the slate clean to put public finances and public services on a firm footing,” she told attendees at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference.

“As a result, we won’t have to do a budget like this ever again.”

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Ms Reeves’ budget has faced sharp criticism from major UK businesses who have said the policy measures will cost them millions, forcing them to raise prices and cut jobs.

Analysis from independent forecasters the Office for Budget Responsibility said the budget would cause inflation to be higher than originally predicted, adding to the disquiet.

But Ms Reeves has insisted there is no alternative to her policies.

“I’ve heard a lot of feedback but what I haven’t heard is a lot of alternatives,” she said on Monday afternoon.

The £22bn “black hole” in public finances needed to be plugged, which necessitated “difficult decisions”, Ms Reeves reiterated.

Full consultation on the employer taxes could not take place with firms, she added, because budgets are supposed to be made to MPs in the Commons and not leaked to industry or the media.

“It is the nature of budgets that you can’t announce or consult in the way over tax rates that you can with other policies,” she said.

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Earlier on Monday, the head of the CBI, one of the UK’s most prominent business groups, said the budget business tax rises will hit firms rather than encourage growth.

A key goal of the Labour government is to grow the economy.

Kingfisher, the owner of Screwfix and B&Q, also said on Monday that the national insurance changes alone would force up its costs by £31m in the next financial year.

Meanwhile, the boss of McVitie’s, Jacob’s and Carr’s said the UK was losing its appeal for his business.

“We would like to continue to be a major investor going forward,” said Salman Amin, chief executive of snack food company Pladis.

But, he warned: “It’s becoming harder to understand what the case for investment is.”

Barclays has been fined £40m over capital raising that averted its need for taxpayer aid during the 2008 financial crisis.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that the bank should have disclosed more details to the stock market about the £11.8bn in funding, from Qatari and other sovereign investors, that it had previously described as “reckless” and lacking integrity.

The penalty followed a protracted investigation that began in 2013 but was held up by criminal proceedings brought by the Serious Fraud Office that led to the acquittal of all defendants charged, including Barclays.

A decision by the bank not to refer the FCA’s enforcement case to an Upper Tribunal meant that the watchdog’s planned fine could be imposed.

Its regulatory action concerned Barclays’ navigation of the events of 2008 when the-then Labour government took huge stakes in major lenders, including Lloyds and RBS – now NatWest – to prevent a collapse of the banking system.

The FCA said of its action: “The events in 2008 were of national importance as banks sought emergency recapitalisation.

“The FCA has a primary objective to ensure market integrity. Banks should treat their obligations to the market and shareholders seriously.”

Barclays was yet to comment.

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Tax rises announced during the recent budget will hit businesses rather than encourage growth, the head of one of the UK’s most prominent business groups will warn on Monday.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has joined a choir of voices opposing Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s fiscal measures, which the Labour Party claims are needed to plug a £22bn “black hole” left by 14 years of Tory government.

Labour put growth at the heart of their campaigning during the last general election, but business believe the £40bn tax rises announced last month – the largest such increase at a budget since John Major’s government in 1993 – will stifle investment.

Rain Newton-Smith, who heads the CBI, is expected to say at the group’s annual conference in London that “too many businesses are having to compromise on their plans for growth”.

She will say: “Across the board, in so many sectors, margins are being squeezed and profits are being hit by a tough trading environment that just got tougher.

“And here’s the rub, profits aren’t just extra money for companies to stuff in a pillowcase. Profits are investment.”

Ms Newton-Smith will add: “When you hit profits, you hit competitiveness, you hit investment, you hit growth.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which monitors the government’s spending plans and performance, has previously said most of the burden from the tax increase will be passed on to workers through lower wages, and consumers through higher prices.

Last week, dozens of retail bosses signed a letter to the chancellor warning of dire consequences for the economy and jobs if she pushes ahead with budget plans.

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Up to 79 signatories joined British Retail Consortium’s (BRC’s) scathing response to the fiscal announcement, which claimed Labour’s tax rises would increase their costs by £7bn next year alone.

It warned that higher costs, from measures such as higher employer National Insurance contributions and National Living Wage increases next year, would be passed on to shoppers and hit employment and investment.

The letter, backed by the UK boss of the country’s largest retailer Tesco, said: “The sheer scale of new costs and the speed with which they occur create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty.”

‘Businesses will now have to make a choice’

A few days after the budget, Chancellor Reeves admitted she was “wrong” to say higher taxes were not needed during the election campaign – as she warned businesses may have to make less money or pay staff less to cover a tax increase.

But she claimed the previous government had “hid” the “huge black hole” in finances and she only discovered the extent of it once her party was voted in.

She told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Yes, businesses will now have to make a choice, whether they will absorb that through efficiency and productivity gains, whether it will be through lower profits or perhaps through lower wage growth.”