FEARS are mounting that Labour are planning stealth taxes to patch up the straining public finances after Keir Starmer failed to rule out a new tax.
At the final Prime Minister’s Questions before the summer break, Starmer would not be drawn on whether the Chancellor would impose taxes on pension contributions.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked the Prime Minister: “We know the Chancellor is launching a review into pension contributions. It’s as clear as day why this is – it is because the Government is considering taxing them.
“Does the Prime Minister agree with me that a tax on pension contributions is a tax on working people?”
Starmer replied: “We made absolutely clear manifesto commitments which she asked me about last week and we’re keeping to. I’m not going to write the budget months out.”
It comes after the SNP raised questions about whether the scope and level of VAT could be changed, as Rachel Reeves (above) seeks to plug holes in her budget to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules.
The Chancellor has pledged to have taxes cover day-to-day public spending and to get debt falling as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
Debt is rising as a percentage of GDP and official forecasts project it will top 270% by 2070 – and top economists have warned that the “fiscal headroom” left by Reeves’s plans is too narrow to meet future shocks.
She has also found herself with less room for manoeuvre after controversial cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment and disability benefits were scrapped.
