Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out three tax rises in his October Budget with Chancellor John Healey. Speaking to LBC on Monday, he said he would “honour that manifesto” which would mean no raising income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
Mr Burnham was speaking to LBC on his first foreign visit to Ukraine on Monday about his October 28 address with Mr Healey. When asked whether the public should expect more tax rises in his first budget, he replied: “No, it doesn’t mean that.”
Finding money within existing budgets
Mr Burnham said he has done this by “changing some of our priorities” and finding money within existing budgets, by “reprioritising existing programmes”. He added: “I think the public would expect me to do that. Where I can help, where I can do something to take that little bit of pressure off, that is exactly what I will do.”
Mr Burnham said: “Obviously people can see the challenging nature of the financial outlook and we will approach it prudently and carefully and we will always make sure that we put people's security first. We won't take risks with people's finances or their pensions or their homes, but we will at the same time try and help with the cost of living, the cost of the basics that people are finding expensive. So we're working on that now and we'll set it all out at the budget.”
No need for higher taxes, says Prime Minister
Speaking on a visit to Ukraine, the Prime Minister said he “won’t be unrealistic” about the state of the economy. Mr Burnham was asked by ITV whether the British public needed to accept that they would have to pay more in tax to fund his spending pledges.
He replied: “They don’t necessarily need to accept that. What I have put out so far, I wouldn’t say is everything, but they are the first steps and they are significant. So we will take VAT off electricity bills. We will bring back the £2 cap on bus fares for the whole of 2027; these are things that we can do because I’ve reprioritised. I took the decision early on that digital ID wasn’t the top priority for now. And so we’ve reprioritised funding to other priorities.”
The Budget on October 28 will be the first joint address by Mr Burnham and Chancellor John Healey, with the Prime Minister emphasising a prudent approach to the nation's finances while aiming to ease the cost of living pressures.
