REEVES IS JUST 'BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE' FOR CHAOS

Tory leader says 'Britain watched in horror" as Chancellor failed to rule out tax rises

- MARTYN BROWN and CHRISTIAN CALGIE

KEMI Badenoch said the country "watched in horror" as Rachel Reeves sought to blame everyone else for her Budget tax raid.

She claimed time is running out for the Chancellor who yesterday failed to rule out manifesto-breaking rises including up to 2p on income tax as she struggles to fill a £30billion black hole in the nation’s finances.

Writing exclusively in the Daily Express, the Tory leader accuses Ms Reeves of being “weak” and lacking the “courage” to rebuild the country’s crumbling economy.

Her onslaught came after the Chancellor warned “we will all have to contribute” to getting the country back on track. In an unprecedented speech in Downing Street before her Budget in 21 days, Ms Reeves said she was now prepared to put the national interest ahead of political expediency.

She is understood to be considering raising income tax by 1p or 2p to help balance the books, despite a pledge in Labour's election manifesto not to increase income tax, NI or VAT.

It is more than half a century since a Chancellor put up the basic rate of income tax - that was Labour's Denis Healey, on April 15, 1975.

A year ago, in her first Budget, Ms Reeves launched a £40bn tax raid to fund a public spending spree and vowed not to “come back for more”.

But rather than take responsibility for the current predicament, she offered a “laundry list” of excuses such as Brexit, Tory austerity, Donald Trump, Covid and the war in Ukraine.

The Conservatives have urged Sir Keir Starmer to sack his Chancellor if she breaks Labour's general election tax pledges.