Just one in five voters back Reeves breaking tax pledge

Just one in five voters back Rachel Reeves’s reported plans to break Labour’s manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on working people - even if they acknowledge it’s in the country’s interests, according to new polling.

- MILLIE COOKE CAITLIN DOHERTY

But it also indicates that the political damage inflicted by raising income tax would be reparable if it was paired with taxes on the wealthy and a positive vision for change, such as clear, achievable targets to improve public services.

A new report from cross-party think tank Demos, shared with The Independent, showed that just 20 per cent of the public believe it is acceptable for the government to break promises on tax, even if that's what the country needs.

Reform supporters hold this view particularly strongly, with 67 per cent saying it would not be acceptable, while just 12 per cent say it would be. Labour supporters, however, are divided on the issue, with 38 per cent either side.

It comes after The Times reported that the chancellor has told the Budget watchdog that she plans to increase income tax as she seeks to repair Britain's battered public finances.

Ms Reeves is reportedly considering a 2p rise in income tax, paired with a 2p cut in national insurance, as part of an attempt to shift the burden of the increase from workers and towards other groups, such as pensioners and landlords in a move which could raise more than £6bn a year.

In a major speech last week, the chancellor put the country on notice that sweeping tax rises are coming in her Budget, warning “we will all have to contribute” to building a new future for Britain.

Promising to put the national interest above “political expediency”, the chancellor signalled she is ready to break Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, personal national insurance or VAT.

The Demos report, which drew on a survey of 2,000 people, says that “while the act of breaking a promise is judged very badly by the public in theory, the public may not feel so pessimistic about it in practice”.