Rachel Reeves said Nigel Farage should focus on tackling ‘traitors’ in his own party as she faced fierce questioning about whether she had broken a manifesto pledge over taxes
Rachel Reeves has hit back at accusations that she broke manifesto promises – and took a brutal swipe at Nigel Farage.
The Chancellor faced a string of bruising interviews to defend her controversial decision to freeze income tax thresholds until 2031. The move means more than 1.5million people face tax rises as their wages go up.
Before the General Election Labour pledged not to increase taxes for working people and Ms Reeves has previously been critical of threshold freezes.
She lashed out at Reform leader Nigel Farage’s claim the Budget was an “assault on aspiration”, telling GB News: “This Government is backing aspiration.” And responding to the jailing of ex-Reform Welsh leader Nathan Gill for taking Russian bribes, Ms Reeves said Mr Farage should focus on “what he’s going to do about ensuring that we don’t have more traitors in his party”.
During a series of fiery broadcast interviews the morning after setting out her Budget, Ms Reeves was repeatedly asked whether she had broken Labour’s manifesto pledge. GMB host Susanna Reid asked: “You acknowledge that extending the freeze on thresholds on tax would hurt working people, which is why you said last year you would not do it. How can anyone believe anything you say?”
Ms Reeves responded: “I’m Chancellor in the world is it is, not in the world that I might like it to be. And I do have to respond to new forecasts and events unfolding around the world.
“So from 2028, I have made that decision to freeze those thresholds. But next year, whilst the cost of living is still an acute challenge for for people, I’m taking £150 off people’s bills, as well as those freezes to prescription and rail fares.. I’m not pretending that what I did yesterday was not asking working people to contribute more, but because of other changes we’ve made around gambling taxes, around higher value properties, it means that I was able to keep that to an absolute minimum.”
Ms Reeves did not increase the income tax rate – as she was rumoured to be considering before the Budget. But economists argue that failing to address thresholds constitutes a tax rise.
Ben Zaranko, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told BBC Breakfast: “It’s hard to see how that squares with a manifesto promise and it is a tax on working people.”
Confronted by Sky News host Sophy Ridge, who read the manifesto pledge to her, Ms Reeves said the document had listed the rates that would not go up – including income tax rates.
She went on: “But I do recognize that yesterday I have asked working people to contribute a bit more by freezing those thresholds for a further three years from 2028. I do recognize that that will mean that working people pay a bit more, but I’ve kept that contribution to an absolute minimum.”
Ms Reeves went on to say she was “incredibly proud” of her Budget, stating: “When I became Chancellor, in my very first speech, I said that I would know my time as Chancellor has been a success if there are ordinary kids from working class backgrounds living more fulfilling lives.
“I believe I achieved that in my Budget yesterday. It’s a Budget that I’m incredibly proud of, and I look forward to delivering many more budgets to help grow our economy and put more money in working people’s pockets.”
