Brexit has had ‘severe and long lasting’ impact on economy, says Reeves, as she confirms budget tax rises – UK politics live | Politics
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Steven SwinfordTimes political editor says He thinks the government will decide that he should publish witness statements he submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in support of the dropped Chinese espionage investigation. That’s what it says about what they can show.
NSA deputy Matthew Collins’ evidence will be fascinating.
Were the threats posed by China ever mentioned? Was it based on evidence from the Home Office or MI5? Did he flag public statements by the heads of MI5 and MI6 against China as threats to national security? Or was it based solely on the integrated review and James Cleverly’s speech?
What threshold did Collins use when he reached the seemingly unilateral conclusion that China was not a threat to national security at the time of the alleged crimes?
And as people are asking today, is it really appropriate for a single civil servant to make such a big decision, given the fallout from the case, the safety of MPs and Britain-China relations?
If No 10 decides to release this evidence, and assuming it does not contain any material that would refute what the government has said on this issue so far, then it could come just before the PMQs. This would have helped Keir Starmer meet Kemi Badenoch because he would not have had time to prepare the best questions based on the information the documents reveal.
Liberal Democrats warn Reeves against extending freeze on income tax thresholds
And what is this? Daisy CooperThe Liberal Democrat deputy leader and Treasury spokesman speaks about the Rachel Reeves interview.
Millions of people up and down the country are worried they could face more damaging tax increases after the Conservative Party slapped a stealth tax on them and the government charged them with an unfair employment tax.
Weeks of this uncertainty will leave people deeply concerned about what this could mean for their payslips and bills.
Rachel Reeves should ignore a cloak-and-dagger effort by the Conservatives to raise revenue by expanding the privacy tax and pushing more working people into higher tax rates. What we need is a proper growth plan and for the big banks, social media giants and gambling companies to pay their fair share of taxes.
By “stealth tax” Cooper means freezing income tax thresholds.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride claims Britain is in a ‘tax disaster cycle’ and Reeves is to blame
In a Sky News interview with the Chancellor, Sam Coates He told her that the UK was in a “doom loop” where the government had to come back with higher taxes every year to fill the black hole in the public finances. Rachel Reeves replied: “No one wants this cycle to end more than I do, Sam.”
But when coatings asked him if he could rule out having to raise taxes again in 2026, reeves he just avoided the question and told her:
Our economy is doing well. I recognize that cost-of-living challenges are still very real for people. Living standards fell in the last parliament. This is the first time this has happened. Living standards are rising today, as inflation and interest rates are lower than under the previous government, due to increases in the national living wage and national minimum wage.
Is there more to do? Absolutely, but I will never take risks on public finances because when you do that, ordinary people pay the price.
In reality, no chancellor can rule out tax increases 13 months before the budget and so it makes no sense for Reeves not to answer the question. (But I quote his words anyway because they tell you something about the story he wants to tell about the economy.)
In a post published on social media, Mel StepThe Shadow Chancellor claimed that Britain was in a cycle of disaster and that Reeves was responsible for it. HE says:
Last year Rachel Reeves increased taxes by £40bn. He said he wouldn’t be coming back for more. Now the Chancellor has confirmed that he will not keep his promise.
Rachel Reeves doesn’t need to raise taxes. He needs to stay on top of government spending, including the welfare bill.
Make no mistake, this cycle of tax disaster is due to the Chancellor’s economic mismanagement.
Under Rachel Reeves we have seen inflation double, a debt bubble form, borrowing costs are at a 27-year high and taxes rise; More trouble is on the way in the fall.
A theme emerges: If the numbers don’t add up, it’s never Rachel Reeves’ fault; But it is always your family that pays the price.
Pressure on Downing Street to release evidence in collapsed China spy trial
Downing Street is under pressure to release its evidence in the collapsed Chinese spy case after the Crown Prosecution Service denied blocking the release of the case. Emine Sınmaz reports.
Confirming taxes will increase in the budget, Reeves said Brexit had a ‘serious and long-lasting’ impact on the economy
Good morning. Inside a much praised FT column yesterday, Stephen Bush He argued that one of the problems facing the Conservatives today is “a necessary condition for entering the upper echelons”. [the party] at least willing to pretend that he thinks taking Britain out of the EU is a good idea”. As Bush memorably put it, “this is a never-ending lobotomy for the Conservatives”.
But Labor also had much less of a problem telling the truth about Brexit. At the last election, Keir Starmer knew he would win only with the support of those who voted to leave the EU in 2016, and as a result Labor avoided any language that suggested this group might be wrong about Brexit.
This is slowly changing, and over the weekend the Times published a report saying that Starmer and Rachel Reeves were planning to argue that this would be at least partly due to Brexit, with the fall in productivity forecasts in the budget requiring huge tax increases. Inside their story Steven Swinford And Oliver Wright in question:
Starmer and Reeves are expected to argue that such a downgrade would not have been necessary if there had been no Brexit, and to cite official figures suggesting that if the UK did not leave the European Union the economy would be around £120bn bigger by 2035 than current forecasts suggest.
The message is simple: [Nigel] It is ultimately Farage’s fault, the man who delivered Brexit with “easy slogans” and then walked away from the aftermath rather than taking tough action. Or in other words: Farage is responsible for determining your taxes, not us.
referring to story, Wes SteetingThe health secretary told a book festival at the weekend: “I’m glad Brexit is now an issue we dare mention.”
Sky News aired this morning report with Reeves, who will be in Washington today for IMF and World Bank meetings, and Sam Coates He asked him if it was true that the government was now blaming Brexit for anemic productivity figures that had led the Office for Budget Responsibility to warn Reeves he would have to raise further taxes. reeves replied:
Austerity, Brexit and the ongoing impact of Liz Truss’s mini-budget have all placed a heavy burden on the UK economy. People already thought that the UK economy would shrink by 4 percent due to Brexit. Now of course we are offsetting some of that damage with the deal we made with the EU earlier this year… but there is no doubt that the impact of Brexit is severe and long-lasting and that is why we are trying to strike trade deals around the world, with the US, India and most importantly the EU.
The phrase “severe and long-lasting” is stronger than the language Reeves normally uses when talking about the negative impact of Brexit. The Times was probably on to something.
In the interview, Reeves also confirmed that tax increases are coming to the budget. (When asked if tax increases were on the way, he answered yes before quickly moving on.) Perhaps more surprisingly, he also hinted that he was looking at potential spending cuts. “Of course, we also look at taxes and spending,” he said at another point.
Graeme Wearden There’s more about Reeves at the IMF on the business live blog.
Will the Reeves interview appear at PMQs? Probably not. Kemi Badenoch is instead likely to challenge Starmer over the collapse of the Chinese spying investigation. CPS now says this No objection to the testimony of three witnesses As the government prepares ahead of the investigation, Starmer is under pressure to either publish them or find a plausible reason not to.
Here is the agenda of the day.
10.30: The high court has begun hearing Epping Forest council’s claim that the Bell hotel in Epping should not be used to house asylum seekers. (That’s the main case; the legal case earlier this year focused only on the narrow issue of whether asylum seekers should be allowed to stay in the hotel or should leave before the main hearing.)
Morning: Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of the Ukrainian parliament (equivalent to President), delivers a speech to MPs and colleagues before attending PMQs.
Afternoon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.
Afternoon (UK time): Rachel Reeves is in Washington for IMF meetings where she is expected to speak to the media.
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