Found another black hole, Chancellor? Reeves says she ‘reserves the right’ to hammer Britain with MORE taxes as she is grilled by MPs over Budget lies scandal
Rachel Reeves insisted she ‘reserves the right’ to hammer Britain with more taxes today as she was grilled by MPs over her shambolic Budget.
The Chancellor pointedly refused to repeat the explicit guarantee she gave – and then broke – in the wake of her first eye-watering raid last year.
Giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, she also made another bid to shore up her position by stressing the £30billion package she delivered on November 26 had been jointly agreed with Keir Starmer.
Ms Reeves wriggled as she was challenged on the extraordinary briefing in the run-up to the Budget, admitting there were ‘too many leaks’ and they were ‘very damaging’.
But despite being accused of fuelling the frenzy herself, she argued that she was ‘doing something about it’ by launching an official probe into who was responsible.
The Chancellor talked up her decision to boost the ‘headroom’ in the government’s books from £9billion at the last Budget to £22billion this time – although in fact a large chunk of the extra cash raised went on benefits costs.
Pressed if she could promise she will not have to raise more revenue in the Spring or at the Budget next Autumn, Ms Reeves said: ‘I reserve the right to be able to take action at any point.
‘But I believe the headroom that we have and the changes we have made means I won’t need to do that in the spring.
‘Of course I reserve the right at any time to take action.’
In other key moments from the session today:
- The Chancellor again denied that extending the hated tax threshold freeze for a further three years was a breach of the Labour manifesto, despite acknowledging ‘working people’ will pay more;
- She claimed she had the ‘balance about right’ at the Budget last year even though she was forced to mount another huge raid this time;
- Ms Reeves insisted she remains completely focused on ‘growth’ after the OBR refused to score any of her measures as a significant boost to the economy;
- The Chancellor ruled out imposing Capital Gains Tax on primary residences or watering down the state pension triple lock in this Parliament.
The OBR told the Treasury as early as September that a downgrade to long-term productivity estimates had been offset by higher tax revenues and inflation.
By the end of October, Ms Reeves had been told the books were in a small surplus, with only Labour’s humiliating U-turns on benefits curbs and axing winter fuel allowance pushing them into the red.
However, Ms Reeves still called a press conference on November 4 stressing the bleak situation, before hammering the country with another £30billion of tax increases at the Budget.
She used some of the money to cave to mutinous Labour MPs by scrapping the two-child benefit cap, as well as increasing the ‘headroom’ in the finances to help calm nervous markets.
Treasury officials have been ordered to carry out a leak inquiry into briefings that misrepresented economic forecasts the department was being given privately.
The Daily Mail: continue resding
Featured image: The Daily Mail
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