Is Rachel Reeves about to tear up a manifesto promise?

The News Agents

Global

Daily News, News, Government, Politics

4.2 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

What exactly is a 'working person'? At the heart of that question is the answer to whether or not you think Labour has fudged its promise not to put up taxes in the budget in two weeks. Yesterday the Prime Minister refused to rule out increasing the national insurance contribution employers pay on their staff - having promised 'no increases on income tax, VAT or NI for WORKING PEOPLE'.

So are they breaking an election promise? And will it damage trust if they do? Later, we talk to Graham Brady, the man whose job was to dispatch Conservative prime ministers when their party no longer wanted them. How does he explain 14 years of Tory chaos? Did the party become addicted to the psychodrama that was damaging a country?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity.
0:09.0	This is a global player original podcast.
0:12.5	Well, I want and Keir wants taxes on working people to be lower.
0:16.9	And we certainly won't be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win the election.
0:23.2	So that's a clear commitment you will not increase income tax.
0:26.6	No, we won't increase income tax or national insurance.
0:29.4	In fact, we oppose the increases to national insurance.
0:31.6	That was then Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves in May before the general election.
0:37.2	This was Kirstama, the Prime Minister, this
0:40.2	morning. Did your manifesto rule out increasing any rate of national insurance, employers or
0:46.8	employees, or was it merely talking about ruling out increasing the employees rate?
0:51.2	We were very clear in the manifesto that we wouldn't be increasing tax on
0:56.0	working people. And we expressly said that that was income tax, that was NICS, etc. So we set that out
1:03.8	in the manifesto. But NICs just for employees? Well, it's very clear from the manifesto that what
1:08.5	we were saying is we're not going to raise tax for working people.
1:11.3	And it wasn't just the manifest.
1:12.2	That phrase, working people, is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting in Kirstama's response.
1:19.7	If he puts up the contributions that employers have to pay in national insurance,
1:25.5	is it a breaking of the Labour manifesto?
1:29.0	And if it is, will it hurt?
1:31.8	Welcome to the newsagents.
1:36.3	The newsagents.
	...

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