Will Labour break their tax pledge?

We are now just three weeks away from Labour’s first Budget and the mood music out of the Treasury is all rather ominous. On 30 October we find out the answer to the great question of British politics: can Rachel Reeves square her spending plans with her past promises on tax? With Labour desperate to keep investors onside ahead of their big jamboree tomorrow, it was up to Jonathan Reynolds to hold the line on Sky this morning.

Unfortunately for the Business Secretary, it seems he made the cardinal sin of ‘committing news.’ Asked whether the government would increase National Insurance for employers, Reynolds refused to rule it out. Labour promised in its manifesto that it would not raise taxes on working people, but Reynolds has said the pledge only applied to employees. He also refused to confirm whether the upcoming Budget would apply the tax raise to employers.

Grilled on whether Labour’s promise applied to both employees and employers, he told Sky’s Trevor Phillips: ‘That pledge, it was taxes on working people, so it was specifically in the manifesto, a reference to employees and to income tax.’