Rachel Reeves has blamed sexism for the mayhem surrounding her Budget as she begged Labour MPs to get behind the plans.
The Chancellor made a desperate appeal to restive backbenchers as she prepares to deliver the long-awaited package tomorrow.
Ms Reeves admitted that workers are looking down the barrel of another round of tax hikes, despite her explicit pledge a year ago that she would not return for more.
But she talked up her determination to scrap the two-child benefit cap – part of an eye-watering £15billion boost in welfare spending she is expected to announce.
Adding to the laundry list of factors she has blamed for the new gulf in the public finances – previously including Brexit, Tory austerity and Donald Trump – Ms Reeves said she was a victim of ‘misogyny’.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a desperate appeal to restive backbenchers as she prepares to deliver the long-awaited package tomorrow
UK plc eked out a 0.1 per cent GDP expansion in the third quarter of the year, worse than analysts had expected
The economy has been battered during weeks of chaotic briefing which saw the Chancellor openly talk up an income tax rise – before humiliatingly ditching the idea.
However, there is still set to be pain for ordinary Britons, with fears of ‘death by a thousand tax rises’ as Ms Reeves tries to fill a black hole estimated at up to £35billion.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to confirm this morning that the ‘sugar tax’ will be extended to cover milkshakes and lattes.
Treasury sources have been all-but confirming that the hated freeze on tax thresholds will be kept in place for another two years.
That ‘stealth raid’ will raise billions of pounds by dragging millions of people deeper into the tax system.
At the gathering of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Ms Reeves told MPs that politics is a ‘team sport’.
Ms Reeves also described the Budget as a ‘package’ not a ‘pick ‘n’ mix’, urging MPs to back the whole of it rather than single out parts they dislike for criticism.
She acknowledged that Labour backbenchers will not be content with some elements of the plans.
Laying out three priorities, she said: ‘Cutting the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and cutting the cost of debt.’
Allies said the Chancellor delivered a message that ‘united parties win elections’.
But she also hit out at ‘armchair’ critics questioning whether she could do the job.
‘I don’t think even I had recognised the misogyny that still exists in public life,’ she said.
