Labour minister Pat McFadden faced a grilling on who is a working person amid ongoing confusion over Labour’s tax pledge.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party promised in its manifesto not to hike taxes for “working people” and ruled out increases to income tax, national insurance and VAT.
But the Prime Minister and other Labour MPs have struggled to define the term ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.
Asked on Sky News, Cabinet minister Mr McFadden said: “I don’t think it’s about definitions of this job, that job, some income level where if you earn a pound more than that you’re not a working person.
“I’ve seen these questions asked in recent days…”
Pressed that it was in Labour’s manifeso, he went on: “What we were talking about was those central tax pledges on income tax, national insurance and VAT.
“That’s what we meant when we used that language and we’ll keep to those promises in the Budget on Wednesday.”
Asked if landlords were working people, Mr McFadden initially refused to be drawn before saying: “Some of them might be, some of them won’t.
“But the point is will we stick to the promises we made in the manifesto? Yes we will.”
He was then asked about the impact of a hike in national insurance contributions for employers on small business owners.
“Well let’s see what the Budget says,” he added. “When we go into individual taxes beyond what was in our manifesto, let’s see what the Budget says.”
It comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil up to £40 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts in her Budget on Wednesday.