diff --git a/Lib/rlcompleter.py b/Lib/rlcompleter.py
index 319e8262717..931edcc4c3a 100644
--- a/Lib/rlcompleter.py
+++ b/Lib/rlcompleter.py
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ def complete(self, text, state):
 
         if not text.strip():
             if state == 0:
-                return '\t'
+                readline.insert_text('\t')
+                readline.redisplay()
+                return ''
             else:
                 return None
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2e8e0db1961..60ea2da5f72 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -163,6 +163,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 - Issue #26171: Fix possible integer overflow and heap corruption in
   zipimporter.get_data().
 
+- Issue #25660: Fix TAB key behaviour in REPL with readline.
+
+
 Library
 -------