Rachel Reeves was grilled by Sky News’ Beth Rigby on her Budget that has already seen fierce backlash for raising taxes by £40bn.
Today’s Budget set out a series of hikes, including an increase in the amount of national insurance employers pay, and the lower and higher rates Capital Gains Tax.
Rigby suggested that the economic plan had “cheated” the public, who voted in Labour on the promise of no tax increases for working people.
She questioned: “Can you honestly say you have a democratic mandate for the measures you have announced today? Tens of billions of pounds in increased spending and tens of billions of pounds in tax rises.”
Reeves maintained that Labour’s main aim is to “return stability to our economy”, which she called “the most important thing I had to do as Chancellor”, and insisted her party does have a “democratic mandate” for the Budget.
However, Rigby quickly interjected: “I think there’ll be a lot of people thinking that they voted for you, and you have just done the biggest tax and spend Budget that we have seen for decades, and that is not what they signed up for”.
The host pushed Reeves to answer whether she understands why the public feels “cheated” by her economic plan, which has “broken their trust”.
Reeves responded: “I think the public know the state the economy was in and the state the public services were in, and the damage that the previous government did to our public finances.”
The chancellor was also grilled by Rigby on the tax burden, which was previously taken to a 70-year high by the Conservatives but is now at the highest level since comparable records began.
Reeves reiterated her stance that the Tories are to blame for the “black hole” in funding, adding that they “increased taxes but public services got worse”.
She continued: “We will improve our public services with the commitments we’ve made around the National Health Service and schools today.
“But we have asked the wealthiest in our society and business to pay a bit more while sticking to our manifesto commitment.”
Reeves has also refused to rule out further tax hikes, saying it would be “irresponsible” to do so. She did, however, call the £40bn rise a “once in a parliament” event.
She told Rigby: “I’m not going to make a commitment to never change taxes again. That would be irresponsible. But this is a once-in-a-parliament Budget to wipe the slate clean after the mess that the Conservatives have left us.”
