After Rachel Reeves’s first budget as chancellor, which included £40bn in tax rises, newspaper headlines in the UK featured “nightmare” and “horror show” allusions as it came a day before Halloween.

The Financial Times front page featured a picture of smiling Reeves headlined “Reeves unveils £40bn budget tax rise”. The paper reported the chancellor’s aims of fixing public services, and the “broken” finances, saying businesses and the wealthy would “bear bulk” of the “heaviest fiscal burden” in a generation.

The Daily Telegraph ran with “Nightmare on Downing Street” reporting a £40bn tax raid that it said would lead to stagnating pay and lower living standards. A cartoon Reeves fronts the paper, holding a jack-o’-lantern in place of the ministerial red box.

The Times headlined on “A record tax burden”, writing that Reeves signalled a £32bn annual surge in public borrowing, and economists warning of a stall in growth after the Office for Budget Responsibility, a non-departmental public body funded by the Treasury, downgraded their forecast.

The Guardian splashed on “Return of tax and spend” along with a picture of Reeves with the red box used for official ministerial papers.

The Daily Mail front page also featured a picture of Reeves, dominated by its headline “Reeves’ £40bn tax bombshell for Britain’s strivers”. The paper listed ways to “beat the budget”, and said “the record hike” would hammer businesses and pensions, increase borrowing under a “public spending splurge” that would hit wages and stall growth.

The Sun splashed with “At least she kept it down at the PUMPkins!” with a pumpkin-head Reeves, writing that “frightful … Rachel Reeves gave Britain a Halloween shock”.

The i headlined on “Reeves’ great £40bn tax gamble” and reported that the watchdog said the national insurance “burden on businesses” would hit jobs, amid an increase in borrowing.

The Mirror called the budget historic, using the same image of Reeves with the customary red briefcase. It headlined with “Spending power” and reported on “record” cash to transform the health service and schools, a carer boost and other plans to “rebuild Britain”.

The Express headlined its splash “Halloween Horror Show”, reporting that Reeves had left Britain with the “highest ever tax burden” in a “Halloween shocker of a budget”.