Burnham Rules Out Budget Tax Rises and Cools Allowance Talk
The Prime Minister ruled out tax rises at the autumn Budget and stepped back from his own hint that he might unfreeze the £12,570 personal allowance, insisting his cost-of-living measures are “fully funded” by reprioritising existing budgets. “We’ll take decisions on tax at the Budget. This is about reprioritising in this phase,” Mr Burnham said on a walkabout in Bath, hours after unveiling the £2 bus-fare cap.
Mr Burnham had told a weekend interview that the frozen allowance was “the thing I heard the most on the doorsteps”; by Wednesday, with markets jittery, he said there was “no commitment at this point”. The allowance has been frozen since 2021, dragging more workers into higher bands through fiscal drag. The Shadow Chancellor, Sir Mel Stride, said the pattern of unfunded pledges “leads to a conclusion that we are probably heading towards tax increases”. Watch whether the Chancellor, John Healey, can hold the “no tax rises” line against a Budget already straining under new spending commitments.