Reeves rules out raising taxes in Spring Statement
The Chancellor has repeatedly said she will not budge from her fiscal rules.
Rachel Reeves has ruled out raising taxes in next week’s Spring Statement.
The Chancellor has repeatedly said she will not budge from her fiscal rules, which rule out borrowing to fund day-to-day spending.
This has led to mounting pressure over how to balance the books – by raising taxes or cutting spending – amid disappointing growth figures and higher-than-expected borrowing.
“This is not a Budget. We’re not going to be doing tax raising,” she told the Sun on Sunday.
“We did have to put up some taxes on businesses and the wealthiest in the country in the Budget,” she said of the Autumn Budget last year.
“We will not be doing that in the Spring Statement next week.”
Ms Reeves will defend herself against accusations of austerity and highlight Labour’s progressive actions since taking office as she sets out the statement on Wednesday, The Mirror reported, following a backlash to welfare cuts announced this week.
Experts estimate that around a million people in England and Wales will lose their disability benefits as part of a welfare overhaul that the Government believes will save more than £5 billion a year by the end of the decade.
An impact assessment is due to be published alongside the Chancellor’s statement.
The Government has said the overhaul is part of efforts to get young people back into work.
Ms Reeves has unveiled plans to train up to 60,000 engineers, bricklayers, electricians and carpenters by 2029 to tackle skills shortages and boost job opportunities.
The cuts to the aid budget to boost defence spending also prompted discontent, with Anneliese Dodds resigning as international development minister over the move.
Next week, the civil service will be ordered to slash more than £2 billion a year from its budget by the end of the decade as part of the Government’s spending review.
The Cabinet Office will tell departments to first cut their administrative budgets by 10% by 2028-29 to save £1.5 billion a year, and then 15%, which is expected to save £2.2 billion a year by 2029-30.
The head of the FDA union said this equates to nearly 10% of the salary bill for the civil service.
Departments had already been told to go through their spending line by line and find efficiency savings worth 5% as part of the spending review, due to be published in June.
When she delivers her statement on Wednesday, Ms Reeves will be responding to new forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility made after the Bank of England reduced its forecasts for growth this year.
She was dealt a blow on Friday as figures showed that government borrowing had soared past forecasts in February at £10.7 billion – £4.2 billion more than had been forecast by the OBR.