All eyes are on Rachel Reeves as critical Autumn Budget looms. Appeasing money markets means making unpopular choices

U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is walking a tightrope as her critical Autumn Budget looms, as pressure mounts to appease voters, shore up public finances and convince money markets her policies are sound.

Thanks to her self-imposed fiscal rules, which she has doubled down on in recent weeks, Reeves has been left scrambling to find strategies that can plug a multi-billion-pound hole in public finances by the time she delivers the budget on Nov. 26.

That means drastically cutting spending or breaking a manifesto pledge not to raise certain taxes — or a combination of the two.

CNBC takes a look at some of the options on the table.

The finance minister has been considering a range of ways to shore up public finances, according to recent reports from local media outlets, including taxing dividends, cutting tax breaks for salary sacrifice schemes and imposing higher levies on certain professions.