The Budget 2026 document of 28 October 2026 keeps the removal of the £135 customs duty relief at October 2028, so the date was not brought forward; BBC News and The Guardian report no change.
Hunch. In June 2026 the government already brought this date forward once, saying it had listened to retailers.
The Budget date market resolves on the Budget 2026 documents and HM Treasury and HMRC statements on GOV.UK on 28 October 2026: YES if they set the end of the £135 duty break earlier than October 2028, and NO if they keep October 2028, give no new date or do not mention it. A faster date announced on another day counts as NO, and BBC News and The Guardian are the backup.
We looked for cases where a country, pushed by its own shops and by the example of its allies, decided on a customs duty for cheap parcels from abroad. We found six such decisions since 2024, two of them in the UK. All six ended with a duty or a plan for one. Three times the date moved earlier, each time outside a Budget.