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The Tories are calling for Keir Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves as Chancellor if she raises taxes at the Budget. In a ratcheting up of the political pressure on Reeves, Kemi Badenoch has said the Chancellor should be fired in the event the Labour government fails to stick to promises not to raise taxes at the Budget. At a pre-Budget rally on Thursday, Badenoch is expected to say that Labour should cut spending instead of raise taxes further, which could include an adoption of its savings proposals, including £23bn cuts to the welfare bill. “Nobody voted for high taxes and out-of-control spending, but that’s what they’re getting from this weak Prime Minister,” Badenoch said. “After her Budget last year, Rachel Reeves promised she was not coming back with more taxes. But now that looks like a lie as she is gearing up to impose more punishing tax hikes. “The British public deserve a government with the backbone and the plan to deliver a stronger economy. “If Rachel Reeves breaks her promise and puts up tax, she must get the axe.” Pressure on Reeves intensifies The comments add to the pressures faced by the Chancellor ahead of the Budget given the government has refused to rule out hiking income tax or VAT. At PMQs on Wednesday, Starmer blamed his Tory predecessors for inflicting more “damage” on the UK economy than previously expected. He suggested any downgrades to productivity trend forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which could create a shortfall of some £20bn in public finances, would be due to economic failures during austerity, Brexit and Liz Truss’ mini-Budget. Badenoch hit back at the Prime Minister, pointing out that the government’s defence of Labour manifesto commitments not to raise income tax or VAT had been abandoned. “He is raising taxes because he is too weak to control spending. He’s blaming us. He’s blaming the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility),” she added. “Last week, they were blaming Brexit. Isn’t the truth that with this prime minister, it’s always someone else’s fault?” Labour “can’t be trusted” Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said Labour “can’t be trusted” as he pointed to comments made by Reeves to business leaders last year stating she was “not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes”. Analysts believe Reeves could face a fiscal hole of around £30bn, largely created by productivity downgrades as well as U-turns on welfare spending and higher government borrowing costs. A spending commitment through lifting the two-child benefit cap and an effort to build larger headroom could force Reeves to raise taxes even higher. Labour ministers have also not ruled out making spending cuts in order to keep to Reeves’ fiscal rules. A Labour Party spokesperson said: “We’ll take no lectures from the Conservatives. They crashed the economy, sent mortgages rocketing and left NHS waiting lists at record highs. “Yet they still haven’t apologised and they’ve done nothing to rebuild their economic credibility.
