Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce the first Labour Government budget for 14 years today. Reeves is proposing tax changes, including a £40bn package of tax rises and spending cuts, and a potential employer National Insurance hike and you can read more about that here.These widely trailed measures have sparked controversy, with some people claiming they break Labour’s election pledges.
Reeves has promised her historic budget will herald a transformative era of public and private investment in the UK, declaring that the budget this week will be as significant as any in Labour’s history.Reeves, Britain’s first woman chancellor, has insisted that her approach respects campaign commitments by keeping direct taxes stable for working people, although what the definition of a working person is has been hotly debated.
Reeves has promised: “The day after the budget, people are not going to see those main taxes that they pay – income tax, national insurance, VAT – going up … We promised at the election that we wouldn’t put up those taxes for working people.”Stay with us while we bring you all the latest comment and reaction through the day and all the budget details when they are announced.