Unions calls on chancellor to impose wealth taxes

Labour’s biggest financial backers are piling pressure on Rachel Reeves to avoid making cuts at next week’s spending review and instead pursue wealth taxes to fund Britain’s public services.

- MILLIE COOKE DAVID MADDOX

Polling commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) reveals a majority the public (54 per cent) back taxes on big corporations and the most wealthy individuals as an alternative means of raising revenue. Just 28 per cent oppose the move.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak urged the government to “stay on track” and build on the “positive start it made at last year’s budget by providing sustained funding for our public services and infrastructure” – warning that people are “fed up with a system where those with the broadest shoulders don’t pull their weight”.

It comes after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner pressed Ms Reeves to consider eight wealth taxes rather than try to impose cuts on departments.

The civil war within the government over next Wednesday’s spending review has seen holdouts from Ms Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as well as Yvette Cooper’s Home Office.

The chancellor is expected to unveil a swathe of spending cuts as she attempts to walk the tightrope between delivering on the party’s election promises and sticking within the bounds of her self-imposed fiscal rules.

The TUC has also joined criticism of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) over whether its flawed predictions are having a negative impact on spending plans.