![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01K44YCDEYGRPT55PF9ECYMDPS-1024x682.jpg\")
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Photo credit: Aaron Chown\/PA Wire<\/p>\n Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Photo credit: Aaron Chown\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
The chaos of Brexit and years of austerity are to blame for the tax rises Rachel Reeves is expected to announce at the Budget, a Cabinet minister said.<\/p>\n
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted the Government takes its manifesto commitments seriously despite expectations at Westminster that the Chancellor will rip up the promises made to voters over tax hikes.<\/p>\n
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a major economic think tank, said the Chancellor must plug a \u00a350 billion black hole in the nation\u2019s public finances and give herself a larger fiscal headroom.<\/p>\n
It suggested a 2p rise in income tax was likely to be needed to address the hole, echoing a similar suggestion by the Resolution Foundation, another think tank which has been influential upon the Government\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n
Ms Reeves would become the first chancellor in half a century to increase the basic rate of income tax if she follows that suggestion when she delivers her November 26 Budget.<\/p>\n
Speculation that she will take that step, which would mean ditching Labour\u2019s manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT, was heightened when she delivered a speech on Tuesday saying that \u201ceach of us must do our bit\u201d.<\/p>\n
An expected downgrade in forecasts of productivity from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will add to Ms Reeves\u2019 headaches because it will suggest lower economic growth and tax receipts.<\/p>\n
Ms Phillipson told the BBC: \u201cWhere it comes to our manifesto, of course, we take the commitments we made seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as the Chancellor was saying yesterday, we know that there are some big challenges in the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made lots of changes already that are putting things on a more stable footing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen interest rate cuts, we\u2019ve seen growth being the fastest in the G7 in the first half of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are some big global factors that remain a challenge, and that\u2019s why we will do what\u2019s right, what\u2019s necessary, both for the public but also for the long-term future of our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDamage\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n She added that the OBR will show \u201cthe damage of the chaotic Brexit we saw, the damage of years and years of austerity was even more serious than we anticipated\u201d.<\/p>\n Ms Phillipson added: \u201cUnfortunately, that is causing major problems in terms of our economy and that\u2019s where we are at the moment, I\u2019m afraid to say.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere, The Times reported some senior figures within the Government are unhappy with the Chancellor\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n \u201cBreaking the manifesto will mean we lose some voters forever,\u201d said an unnamed minister quoted in the newspaper.<\/p>\n Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride meanwhile suggested his counterpart must stand down if she goes ahead with tax rises.<\/p>\n The senior Tory said: \u201cThis is about choices. If Rachel Reeves breaks her word and raises taxes again, she must go.<\/p>\n \u201cA responsible chancellor would get a grip on spending \u2013 including the welfare bill \u2013 not reach for yet another tax rise.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Chancellor insisted on LBC\u2019s Tonight With Andrew Marr that she would not take such a step.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what do you think would happen in financial markets if I did that?\u201d she told the broadcaster.<\/p>\n Support our Nation today<\/p>\n For the price of a cup of coffee<\/strong> a month you can help us create an
\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Photo credit: Aaron Chown\/PA Wire The chaos of Brexit and years of austerity are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-562959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115529547243296821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}