UK’s Reeves hints tax rises are coming

Finance chief pledges no return to austerity

- ALISTAIR SMOUT SARAH YOUNG

British finance minister Rachel Reeves paved the way for broad tax rises to avoid a return to "austerity" yesterday, framing her second annual budget as one of "hard choices" to protect public spending while reducing Britain's debt.

In an unusual speech for a finance minister to make just three weeks before delivering the budget, Ms Reeves set out the difficult economic backdrop she was wrestling with, pointing to high debt levels, low productivity and stubborn inflation.

This meant, she said, the government would most likely have to take “hard choices” in the budget on Nov 26, ones that would force “all here to contribute” to secure jobs, and the future of the health and education sectors, which she described as the nation’s priorities.

NO EASY ANSWERS

“As I take my decisions on both tax and spend, I will do what is necessary to protect families from high inflation and interest rates ... to protect our public services from a return to austerity,” she told a news conference.