Rachel Reeves’s plan for tax cuts is taking the voters for fools

Labour has had a good run attacking the Conservatives for hiking taxes, writes John Rentoul. But as a government in waiting, it needs to be honest about the economy – and abandon fantasy tax cuts and impossible spending pledges

Reeves may think she can cut personal taxes, so that people feel better off, while raising corporate taxation (PA)

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is said to be considering a promise of income tax or national insurance cuts in Labour’s election manifesto.

This is the logical endpoint of her positioning of Labour as the low-tax party over the past 18 months – but it is pie-in-the-sky economics that takes the voters for fools.

Labour has had a good run of attacking the Conservatives, and Rishi Sunak personally, for putting up taxes. Keir Starmer and Reeves have made common cause with the fairytale believers of the Liz Truss wing of the Tory party in criticising the “heaviest tax burden for 70 years”. This is despite Labour’s support for the furlough scheme and the energy price support which gave rise to the need for higher taxes.