PRESS: UK minister does not say if tax pledge is for all of parliament

(Alliance News) - A UK government minister said she "can't speculate on this budget or budgets to ...

Alliance News 27 October, 2024 | 10:20AM
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(Alliance News) - A UK government minister said she "can't speculate on this budget or budgets to come" when pressed on Sky News on Sunday about whether a pledge to not raise income is for the whole of the five-year term.

On the Sky News Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show, Labour MP Bridget Phillipson also said the budget on Wednesday is a choice between "investment and decline".

Labour has previously ruled out raising value added tax, income tax and national insurance.

But Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, MP for Houghton & Sunderland South, did not say whether the pledge is for the whole of this parliament.

"I can't speculate on this budget or budgets to come, if I was to do that I would get into a lot of trouble," she told the Sky News Sunday morning show.

In addition, she labelled Wednesday's budget as a "straight forward choice between investment or decline".

"It's about fixing the mess we inherited," she said.

Keir Starmer has denied misleading the public at the general election over tax plans for the UK budget after he indicated that people who make money from shares and property could face greater levies, PA reported on Saturday.

The prime minister rejected claims he was waging a "war on middle Britain" amid speculation he could increase the burden for those who have income from assets.

Labour had pledged in its manifesto to not hike taxes on what it described as "working people," explicitly ruling out increases to VAT, national insurance, and income tax.

But asked to define the term during a broadcast interview in Samoa, Starmer said it was someone who "goes out and earns their living, usually paid in a sort of monthly cheque" and who cannot "write a cheque to get out of difficulties".

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

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