Sack Reeves if she raises taxes in Budget, Badenoch tells PM

Sack Reeves if she raises taxes in Budget, Badenoch tells PM

The chancellor is widely expected to raise taxes in her Budget on 26 November, after gloomy economic forecasts and a series of U-turns on welfare cuts made it harder for her to meet her own tax and spending rules.

But during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer declined to repeat the pledge.

In its election manifesto last year Labour promised not to increase taxes on "working people", including National Insurance, income tax rates and VAT.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called on the prime minister to sack Rachel Reeves if she puts up taxes at next month's Budget.

The Conservatives have accused Labour of already breaking its manifesto commitments by announcing £40bn of tax rises in last year's Budget, including a hike in the rate of National Insurance paid by employers.

The party also pointed to comments made by Reeves last November, when she insisted she would not be "coming back with more borrowing or more taxes".

Badenoch said "that now looks like a lie as she is gearing up to impose more punishing tax hikes".

At a rally in central London, marking one year since last year's Budget, the Conservative leader told supporters: "If she puts up tax, give Reeves the axe."

She added that her party's recently-announced blueprint for cutting government spending by £47bn a year after 2029 showed they had a plan to "get spending under control".

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