By Jennifer McKiernan & Dharshini DavidBBC NewsLabour has said there will be no rises in income tax or National Insurance if it wins the general election – but some spending cuts have not been ruled out. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg she did not want to make any spending cuts. But she was “under no illusion about the scale of the challenge” and would face “difficult decisions”, she said. The Conservatives have cut National Insurance twice and said they aim to scrap it when circumstances allow.Labour supported lower taxes, but she would not put forward “unfunded proposals”, Ms Reeves told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Pressed repeatedly on her tax plans, she said: “What I want and Keir [Starmer] wants is taxes on working people to be lower and we certainly won’t be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win at the election.”We opposed the increases to national insurance when Rishi Sunak put those forward as chancellor.”Unlike the Conservatives, who have already racked up £64bn of unfunded tax cuts in just three days of this campaign, I will never play fast and loose with the public finances, I will never put forward unfunded proposals.”Labour has claimed the government’s ambition to abolish national insurance contributions for workers would cost £46bn, but the Conservatives have said this will not happen before 2030 and only if the economy grows sufficiently, Labour vows to fund NHS pledges by tackling tax dodgersBudget leaves Labour seeking savings to fund pledgesLabour pledges wave of New Towns in first year of government On Saturday, independent think tank The Institute of Fiscal Studies issued a stark warning about the challenges awaiting the next government, saying the state of public finances hung over the election campaign “like a dark cloud”.It warned that more tax rises or cuts to public services could lie ahead, whoever won on 4 July.Ms Reeves promised there was “not going to be a return to austerity”, saying commitments to boost frontline services were a “down payment on the changes that we want to make”.”That money for our NHS, the additional police – 13,000 additional police and community officers – and the 6,500 additional teachers in our schools, they are all fully costed and fully funded promises because unless things are fully costed and fully funded, frankly, you can’t believe they’re going to happen.”She said Labour would raise the money by ending the VAT exemption for private schools and by extending the windfall tax on energy firms. “But in the end we have to grow the economy, we have to turn around this dire economic performance,” she added. Ms Reeves ruled out setting a timetable for when a Labour government would increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income, saying there would be a review of defence costs which had “got out of control under this government”.Rishi Sunak has pledged that the defence budget will rise to the 2.5% figure by 2030. A spending review would take place if Labour won the election, the shadow chancellor said, and a “fiscal lock” would be introduced, meaning any significant and permanent tax and spending changes would require a full accompanying forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR normally needs 10 weeks’ notice to produce a forecast, and scrutiny of opposition party plans is not allo …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBy Jennifer McKiernan & Dharshini DavidBBC NewsLabour has said there will be no rises in income tax or National Insurance if it wins the general election – but some spending cuts have not been ruled out. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg she did not want to make any spending cuts. But she was “under no illusion about the scale of the challenge” and would face “difficult decisions”, she said. The Conservatives have cut National Insurance twice and said they aim to scrap it when circumstances allow.Labour supported lower taxes, but she would not put forward “unfunded proposals”, Ms Reeves told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Pressed repeatedly on her tax plans, she said: “What I want and Keir [Starmer] wants is taxes on working people to be lower and we certainly won’t be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win at the election.”We opposed the increases to national insurance when Rishi Sunak put those forward as chancellor.”Unlike the Conservatives, who have already racked up £64bn of unfunded tax cuts in just three days of this campaign, I will never play fast and loose with the public finances, I will never put forward unfunded proposals.”Labour has claimed the government’s ambition to abolish national insurance contributions for workers would cost £46bn, but the Conservatives have said this will not happen before 2030 and only if the economy grows sufficiently, Labour vows to fund NHS pledges by tackling tax dodgersBudget leaves Labour seeking savings to fund pledgesLabour pledges wave of New Towns in first year of government On Saturday, independent think tank The Institute of Fiscal Studies issued a stark warning about the challenges awaiting the next government, saying the state of public finances hung over the election campaign “like a dark cloud”.It warned that more tax rises or cuts to public services could lie ahead, whoever won on 4 July.Ms Reeves promised there was “not going to be a return to austerity”, saying commitments to boost frontline services were a “down payment on the changes that we want to make”.”That money for our NHS, the additional police – 13,000 additional police and community officers – and the 6,500 additional teachers in our schools, they are all fully costed and fully funded promises because unless things are fully costed and fully funded, frankly, you can’t believe they’re going to happen.”She said Labour would raise the money by ending the VAT exemption for private schools and by extending the windfall tax on energy firms. “But in the end we have to grow the economy, we have to turn around this dire economic performance,” she added. Ms Reeves ruled out setting a timetable for when a Labour government would increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income, saying there would be a review of defence costs which had “got out of control under this government”.Rishi Sunak has pledged that the defence budget will rise to the 2.5% figure by 2030. A spending review would take place if Labour won the election, the shadow chancellor said, and a “fiscal lock” would be introduced, meaning any significant and permanent tax and spending changes would require a full accompanying forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR normally needs 10 weeks’ notice to produce a forecast, and scrutiny of opposition party plans is not allo …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
