Chancellor 'will be forced into another round of tax hikes'

Glum predictions by leading economists

- Robert Kellaway

LABOUR will be forced to launch further tax raids before the next election due to weak growth, leading economists have predicted.

A survey of 96 economic experts found that while the UK is likely to outperform France and Germany in 2025, disastrous national insurance hikes on business will undermine jobs and the wider economy.

The majority of those polled expected only lacklustre expansion this year, short of the 2% rebound the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast for 2025.

Maxime Darmet, senior economist at Allianz Trade said: "Growth will undershoot the Government and the OBR's forecasts. Therefore, tax receipts will probably undershoot as well."

All but a handful of respondents said that Chancellor Rachel Reeves would end up increasing taxes again before the next general election, expected in 2029.

Confidence

Andrew Oswald, professor of economics and behavioural science at Warwick University, said there would be "a dawning realisation...that without income tax and VAT rises, we cannot make the damn sums work".