Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out further tax rises or additional borrowing when challenged to repeat his Chancellor’s pledge not to “come back with more”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch asked Starmer about Rachel Reeves’ words.
She said: “At the CBI conference on Monday, the Chancellor said – and I quote – ‘I’m clear, I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes’.
“I know that telling the truth to this House is important to the Prime Minister, so will he repeat his Chancellor’s pledge now?”
Starmer declined to repeat Reeves’ promise, and told the House: “We set out our position at the Budget, which was just set out.
“We’re fixing the foundations. We’re dealing with the £22bn black hole that they left.”
The Prime Minister added: “I’m not going to write the next five years of Budgets here at this despatch box, but we said we wouldn’t hit the payslips of working people.
“We’ve passed the Budget. We’ve invested in the future, and we’ve kept that promise.”
Badenoch then hit back, insisting Reeves’ pledge was “as worthless” as Labour’s manifesto.
She argued: “He’s not fixing any foundations – he’s making everything worse.
“The whole House would have heard him refuse to repeat the Chancellor’s pledge, a pledge as worthless as the manifesto promises that he’s talking about.
“If he is fixing foundations, why is it that the PMI (purchasing managers’ index) index shows that business confidence has crashed since the Budget?”
But Starmer responded: “I notice that having come here criticising the national insurance rises over and over again, on Monday, she admitted that she wouldn’t reverse the position that was set out.”
The Chancellor has come under pressure in the wake of her October 30 Budget, including from farmers and family businesses over changes to the inheritance tax (IHT) regime.
Ministers have also faced pushback from firms and industry lobby groups who warn the combination of the minimum wage rise and the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) will have a chilling effect on jobs, hiring, and investment.