‘What is Labour’s plan?’: Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wriggles as she’s asked to provide details on tax policies
- Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves came up short in a Today interview yesterday
- Read more: Childcare boost in Budget is ‘major expansion of the welfare state’
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves floundered in a radio interview yesterday.
She struggled to answer when put on the spot and asked to set out Labour’s policies by the normally laid-back BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Amol Rajan.
This is part of the conversation:
Rachel Reeves floundered in a Radio 4 interview on Thursday morning, failing to offer an alternative to Jeremy Hunt’s budget announcements
BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Amol Rajan put stern questions to the Shadow Chancellor, who missed the mark with her responses
Amol Rajan: There does come a point where we are possibly only a year from an election where some of the proposals in the Budget pertain to events up to 2025/26 where people say it just won’t do for you to set out your plans closer to an election.
Rachel Reeves: We will back these [childcare] plans if it comes to a vote.
AR: What else would you do on childcare? If people are listening to this and desperately struggling with childcare. They want to know what you would do differently because they want to make a decision on whether to vote for you.
RR: We will back these plans. We wouldn’t have got into this mess in the first place.
AR: People feel utterly skint. One of the big reasons they feel skint… is fiscal drag. The Chancellor says it’s necessary because it’s going to raise a lot of money – £120 billion over five years – are you against the freezing of these tax thresholds?
Read more: Childcare boost in Budget is ‘major expansion of the welfare state’
RR: The Conservatives have become a party of high tax because they have become a party of low growth… that’s why there has to be a serious plan to grow the economy.
AR: I’m so sorry to interrupt but what is that plan? You’ve described the Conservative position… where do you stand on the freezing of those thresholds?
RR: Let me tell you about that plan for growth. If you look at what President Biden…
AR: No, no, no. Those tax thresholds. I know you’ve got a plan for growth, what would you do on freezing tax thresholds?
RR: And why are we in this position…
AR: That’s not what I’m asking. People might want to know what Labour is going to do about tax thresholds so they would know how much money they are going to have left at the end of the month in April.
RR: I totally understand that. We want taxes to be as low as possible, but I am going to be totally honest we can only do that if we grow the economy.
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