Budget 2024 latest: ‘Big and difficult choices’ warns health secretary as tax threshold freeze not ruled out
Speculation is mounting ahead of 30 October
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The health secretary has declined to rule out extending the freeze on income tax thresholds as speculation about possible tax increases in the Budget continued to mount.
Wes Streeting said he would not guess measures that the Chancellor might introduce in the Budget, but told broadcasters on Sunday morning that he had already agreed health spending with Rachel Reeves.
Mr Streeting told Sky News: What we’re not going to do is duck the difficult decisions, have Government by gimmick, short-term sticking plasters, because that is exactly how we ended up in this situation.”
He went on to say: “There are a whole load of choices that we will have to make that we would have preferred not to. But if we don’t make the choices now, we will end up paying a much heavier price for failure.
“We’re not prepared to do that. We’re going to make the right long term decisions.”
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates ahead of the big event on 30 October here, on The Independent’s liveblog.
Budget 2024: Inheritance tax set to rise – here’s what it means for you
Inheritance tax set to rise – here’s what it means for you
Only around 4 per cent of families have to pay ‘death tax’ under current legislation
Streeting says he cannot fix 14 years of NHS issues with one budget
Wes Streeting said he had reached a deal on NHS funding with the Chancellor, but could not fix the problems of the last 14 years in one Budget.
Asked about potential funding increases at the Budget, the Health Secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I’m not going to get into specific figures.
“I’ve settled with the Chancellor, but we are not going to fix 14 years in one Budget.”
He also stressed the need for reform as well as investment in the NHS, saying he was “conscious” that money spent on health was money that could not be spent in other areas.
He added: “There isn’t a single part of Government and the public sector where there aren’t real crises.”
Streeting refuses to rule out income tax threshold freeze
Wes Streeting has refused to rule out that the Government will freeze income tax thresholds in the upcoming Budget.
Mr Streeting had previously voted against the measure in opposition while Rishi Sunak was prime minister.
Speaking on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Mr Streeting said: “I’m not going to speculate on what the Chancellor might do in the Budget.
“If you’re asking me whether I would vote against anything in the Chancellor’s Budget? The answer is no, of course I’m not going to do that.”
He went on to say: “This country is paying a heavy price for Conservative failure, and we’re going to have to make some big and difficult choices in this Budget to make sure we fix the foundations of the economy and we don’t end up back here.”
He later added: “What we’re not going to do is duck the difficult decisions, have Government by gimmick, short-term sticking plasters, because that is exactly how we ended up in this situation.”
Full report: Starmer denies election pledges will be broken as Reeves plans stealth taxes
Starmer denies election pledges will be broken as Reeves plans stealth taxes
Rachel Reeves is considering a range of taxes in the Budget to fill a £40 billion black hole in Labour’s spending commitments
Reeves considers raising tax on vaping in Budget
Rachel Reeves is considering raising the tax on vaping products in the upcoming Budget as figures lay bare how many children access them in the UK, The Guardian reports.
The tax on vaping products was originally announced by the Conservatives in March, to come in to force in 2026. It is now understood that Ms Reeves could look to increase this.
Under current plans, the new rates from April 2026 will range from £1-3 per 10ml of liquid, depending on nicotine level.
When is the 2024 Budget and what might be in it?
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour’s first Budget on Wednesday 30 October.
Each year, the chancellor of the exchequer - who is in charge of the government’s finances - makes a Budget statement to MPs. .
The speech outlines the government’s plans for spending and taxes.
The Budget speech usually starts around 12:30pm and lasts about an hour. The Independent will be bringing you all the latest updates on the big day.
Ms Reeves may be considering pushing the freeze beyond its current expiry date of 2028 in a move that could raise £7 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Other measures reported to be under consideration include increasing employers’ national insurance contributions, raising fuel duty for the first time since 2010, changes to rules on inheritance tax and stamp duty, and a levy on e-cigarettes, according to reports across the media.
The Treasury has so far declined to comment on Budget speculation.
Government will keep manifesto pledges, says Starmer
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that the government will keep to manifesto pledges ahead of the Budget.
Asked about whether reported tax changes under consideration would keep to their promise of not increasing taxes for working people, Sir Keir told a press conference in Berlin: “We are going to keep our manifesto pledges.”
He added: “I’m not going to pre-empt the individual measures that will be outlined by the Chancellor in due course.
“This is going to be a Budget that will fix the foundations and rebuild our country.”
When asked further about potential tax rises, the Prime Minister said that “you’ll just have to wait until the Chancellor lays that out in full, but the structure if you like, the framework, is going to be to fix the foundations and to rebuild our country.”
Comment: Labour were right to break their promise on taxes – we should all be paying more
Labour were right to break their promise on taxes – we should all be paying more
... and the Conservatives are the last people who can complain, writes John Rentoul
UK faces ‘make or break moment’ in Budget as Swinney calls for spending
Scotland’s First Minister will use a speech on Monday to urge the Chancellor to increase spending, as he said the Budget presents a “mark or break moment” for the UK.
On Monday, First Minister John Swinney is expected to make his most outspoken intervention on the budget and push the Chancellor to invest in public services.
Speaking at an event in Edinburgh on Monday in front of academics, think tanks and representatives of the private, public and voluntary sector, the First Minister is expected to describe the past seven years – which has seen Brexit, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent energy price and inflation hikes – as a “long, dark economic winter”.
He will add: “What is needed now is a collective commitment to public investment for economic renewal, investment that will allow us to move into an economic spring, with new growth, new opportunities and new hope.
“In this century, defined by global crises, we must invest boldly to improve living standards, increase equality, and protect the planet.
“We cannot simply sit back and wait for economic conditions to improve after nearly two decades of volatility.”
Wider economic gains being ignored in two-child limit debate, says think tank
The wider benefits of scrapping the two-child limit such as the future earnings potential of young people who avoid poverty as a result are being ignored, a think tank has said.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has faced pressure, including from some of his own Labour MPs, since being elected in July to scrap the controversial Conservative policy but has insisted he cannot do so in the current economic climate.
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) said its UK-wide analysis suggests that retaining both the two-child limit and the benefit cap – which a number of campaigners have said should also be axed – could see almost half (49.4%) of families with three or more children living in relative poverty after housing costs by the end of this Parliament five years from now.
Scrapping both from April 2025 could cost the Government £2.5 billion a year, rising to £3.5 billion by 2029/30, the organisation said.
Much of these costs are taken up by the two-child limit at £1.9 billion and £2.6 billion respectively, the NEF said, but it argued this would be “significantly offset by short, medium and longer-term economic gains”.
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