How is a landslide winning PM not able to get his legislation through?

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride believes the Government is in the grip of Left-wing backbenchers and the unions, and ironically it is 'working people who are picking up the tab'. The way forward, he says, is to cut red tape and set Britain's entrepreneurs free

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RACHEL Reeves should resign if Wednesday's Budget results in more people paying more tax, according to the man whose job it is to hold the Chancellor to account. Sir Mel Stride is known in Parliament for his personal warmth and bonhomie but he has a stern message for Ms Reeves as she finalises her Budget.

Keeping the point at which people start paying tax frozen for longer would, the Shadow Chancellor argues, break a manifesto promise.

He said: "I think if she puts taxes up in this Budget, having said that she wouldn't and given the mess she has created, she should step down." The resignation of a Chancellor would send shockwaves through the economy and have direct implications for the embattled Prime Minister.

"Clearly, if she goes then his position becomes much less tenable as well," he said.

Sir Mel is not one of politics' natural Rottweilers but his anxiety about the state of Britain in 2025 is clear. "It's not good for the country that we're even discussing this scenario," he said.

The point at which people begin paying tax was frozen by the Conservatives after the pandemic but this is due to end in 2028.

There is alarm that more pensioners will have to pay income tax if it is not uprated.

However, there is strong speculation the freeze could continue for two more years in a bid to boost Treasury coffers by around £8billion.

Labour's manifesto stated it would "not increase taxes on working people" and in November last year Ms Reeves told the CBI she would not be "coming back with more borrowing or more taxes".

But with the country thought to be facing a "black hole" in the public finances of tens of billions of pounds, Budget Day is expected to be an expensive exercise in assuring the markets that Britain is not hurtling into a crisis.

Sir Mel anticipates the Budget will bring pain to the people Labour pledged to protect.

"It's going to hit hard-working people," he said.