Sir Keir Starmer has refused to stand by Labour’s manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, employee national insurance or value added tax, as he warned the backdrop to next month’s Budget was tougher than expected.
The UK prime minister has previously said “the manifesto stands”, but refused to repeat that assurance in the House of Commons on Wednesday and his spokesperson also refused to use the phrase.
Instead, Starmer cited gloomy official forecasts on UK productivity growth — first reported by the Financial Times — which analysts have estimated could cause a £20bn hit to the public finances.
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