Rachel Reeves ‘must resign’ if she slaps pensioners with £8bn betrayal | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves should resign if Wednesday’s Budget leads to more people paying more tax, according to the man whose job it is to hold the Chancellor to account. Sir Mel Stride is known for his personal warmth and good humor in Parliament, but he has a stern message for Ms Reeves as she finalizes her Budget.

The Shadow Chancellor argues that continuing to freeze the point at which people start paying taxes for longer will not deliver on the manifesto promise. He said: “I think if he puts taxes in this budget he should resign, given the mess he’s said he won’t do and has created.”

The chancellor’s resignation could send shock waves through the economy and put Sir Keir Starmer’s position at even greater risk.

“Frankly, if he were to leave, his position would also become less tenable,” he said.

Sir Mel is not one of politics’ natural Rottweilers, but his concern about the state of Britain in 2025 is clear.

“Even discussing this scenario is not good for the country,” he said.

The point at which people will start paying taxes after the pandemic has been frozen by the Conservatives, but this is expected to end in 2028. There is alarm that if it is not increased, more retirees will have to pay income tax. However, there is strong speculation that the freeze could continue for another two years in a bid to increase Treasury coffers by around £8bn.

Labour’s manifesto stated it would “not increase taxes on workers” and in November last year Ms Reeves told the CBI she would “not come back with more borrowing or more taxes”. But with the country facing a “black hole” worth tens of billions of pounds in its public finances, Budget Day is expected to be an expensive exercise in reassuring markets that the UK is not sliding into crisis.

Sir Mel predicts the Budget will bring pain to the people Labor promised to protect.

“He will shoot hard-working people,” he said. “That’s what’s going to happen.”

He argues that “there is an alternative” and that the Government could choose to control spending. However, he predicts that the extra income will go towards financing social assistance payments.

“This is a direct transfer from people who are working to people who are receiving benefits,” he said.

He claims the Government cannot control the left-wing backbenchers who sabotaged welfare reform initiatives earlier this year and that “working people are the ones paying the bill”. Describing Sir Keir Starmer’s position as “extremely precarious”, he argues it takes “a certain level of incompetence” for a Prime Minister who won by a landslide to fail to pass legislation.

He said if he found himself in the same situation as Ms Reeves, he would encourage her to “get a grip on spending” and “get a grip on welfare” and offer support for the Conservative Party to take measures to get around Labour’s backbenchers.

“I think at that point he probably would have walked out of the elevator or pressed the emergency button,” he admitted.

As shadow chancellor, he travels the country and worries about signs of austerity and the erosion of business confidence. The day before he spoke to the Sunday Express he was in Billericay, Essex, where he was told in a cafe that people who used to stop in for coffee and cake had now given up on cake.

Employers are concerned about the rise in National Insurance contributions, as well as the turbocharged workers’ rights package that Angela Rayner spearheaded before she was forced to resign. A key concern is that it will be even harder for young people to get a first job.

He thinks union pressure was behind the Government’s decision to stick with Ms Rayner’s reforms despite flat growth and rising unemployment.

“The most sensible thing the government could do – that wouldn’t cost any money – would be to ease these additional burdens,” he said.

He added that Ms. Reeves “doesn’t need to sign a check. She just needs to change the policy.”

“The fact that they haven’t said they will, I’m afraid it tells you a lot about where the power is in the modern Labor Party, and it’s not pro-business.”

Before entering Westminster, Sir Mel, 64, ran his own marketing, publishing and events business and had a passion for entrepreneurship. He argues that freeing people from business rates and bureaucracy could lead to the revival of Britain’s beleaguered high streets.

“If you do these things, you can implement them very quickly because there are very entrepreneurial people out there and it’s remarkable how resilient they actually are,” he said. “They just need a break.”

In his eyes, the men and women who keep the wheels of commerce turning also keep Britain alive, able to fund its armed forces and care for the defenseless.

“The only path to a more prosperous and secure country is through doing business,” he said, adding: “The difference between us being able to defend ourselves against Vladimir Putin and not having the resources to do so is armies of people out there standing up and doing what they do.”

Removing burdens on British industry is one of Sir Mel’s key aims, and he wants to make reducing energy costs a national priority.

During a recent visit to the United States, he watched robots working on Tesla vehicles. He considered how much it would cost to power a similar operation in the UK.

He said: “We’re four or five times the energy costs of California. They’re paying a quarter of what a car manufacturing unit here would be paying for energy, so how can you compete?”

Labour’s manifesto included a commitment to not grant new licenses to explore new oil and gas fields. Sir Mel calls the Government’s position “crazy”.

Pointing to imports of liquified natural gas from the US and Qatar, he said that “has a carbon footprint that’s four times the gas that’s coming out of the North Sea”.

On Tuesday, YouGov reported that the Greens were tied with the Conservatives on 17 per cent when it came to public voting intention. The Central Devon MP is urging voters not to embrace Zack Polanski’s party.

“Look very closely at their economic policies because if you’re worried about Labor, be very, very worried about the Greens,” he said. “I think these would be absolutely devastating.

“That’s what I would tell people who were flirting with it.”

Reform UK was 10 points ahead of the Conservative Party in the poll. He describes the party as a “one-man band” and encourages voters to ask: “Are their plans coherent?”

Reversing the fortunes of the Conservative party would be an epic challenge for the entrepreneurs and innovators it admires, and the next election is still years away.

He speaks warmly of party leader Kemi Badenoch, saying: “I think he’s gotten stronger and stronger.”

And he has no doubt about the urgency of the task ahead.

Describing a nightmare scenario of a “showdown” with markets on Labour’s watch, he said: “Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, but I think most economic commentators would think it’s on the table as a possibility, which is a hugely depressing thing to think about.”

For this father of three, revitalizing the Conservative party is about more than party politics. Gives the feeling of a man on a rescue mission.

He said: “We must continue because I think it is our only answer to the challenge facing our country.”