Two-thirds of Britons would rather Rachel Reeves fill her Budget black hole by cutting spending rather than raising taxes, according to a new poll.
A More In Common survey found 67 per cent wanted the Chancellor to cut spending on public services, but only 33 per cent wanted her to hike levies on working people.
The findings will heap further pressure on Ms Reeves ahead of her Budget on Wednesday, at which she will need to fill a multi-billion pound spending gap.
As she scrambles to balance the books, the Chancellor is expected to raise billions of pounds by freezing income tax thresholds for an extra two years to 2030.
She is also thought to be plotting a National Insurance raid on salary sacrifice schemes, including pensions, and a ‘mansion tax’ on more expensive homes.
Electric car drivers are also set to be hit by a new pay-per-mile levy on their vehicles.
At the same time, Ms Reeves is widely expected to splurge around £3billion a year extra on welfare by axing the two-child benefit cap in a bid to appease Labour MPs.
The More In Common poll found that nearly half (47 per cent) said extending the freeze on thresholds would break Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise income tax.
Two-thirds of Britons would rather Rachel Reeves fill her Budget black hole by cutting spending rather than raising taxes, according to a new poll
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves should ‘have the balls’ to admit freezing income tax thresholds would breach Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise taxes on working people
Some 2,007 people were surveyed between 18 to 19 November – just a week before the Chancellor’s critical Budget.
Luke Tryl, the executive director of More in Common, told the Sunday Times: ‘Britons aren’t blind to the challenges facing the Chancellor.
‘On the contrary, the public overwhelmingly feels that the economy and public finances are deeply broken.
‘But the events of the past year have shattered their confidence that this is the right Government to fix them.
‘If there is an upside, it’s that the Chancellor may have avoided a public opinion catastrophe by seemingly rowing back from an income tax rise.
‘Breaking Labour’s flagship manifesto pledge would have represented a serious breach of trust; worse – voters told us – than Partygate, the PPE scandal or changes to the winter fuel allowance.’
In an article for the same newspaper, Ms Reeves insisted her Budget would ease the cost of living for British households as she vowed to ‘get a grip on inflation’.
In a pledge to ‘control’ public spending, the Chancellor said: ‘That’s not at odds with our Labour values, it is a Labour value, because there is nothing fair or progressive about unfairness and waste in government.
‘Just as there is nothing fair or progressive about spending £1 in every £10 of taxpayer money on servicing debt interest.’
Ms Reeves also suggested she and Sir Keir Starmer would soon return with another attempt to cut Britain’s ballooning benefits bill.
Earlier this year, the Chancellor and Prime Minister abandoned most of their efforts to cut welfare spending in the face of a widespread revolt among Labour MPs.
They shelved plans to restrict access to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the main disability payment in England, until after a review.
But Ms Reeves suggested more welfare reforms would soon be tabled as she battles to control Government spending.
‘It will require us to reform our welfare system too, from a system that was designed to punish, trapping millions of people on benefits rather than helping them into work, into a system designed to help people succeed,’ she wrote.
‘Our reforms will ensure it doesn’t pay to be off sick instead of in work, tackle youth unemployment with a guaranteed job opportunity and increase face-to-face assessments, which stopped under the previous government.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves should ‘have the balls’ to admit that freezing income tax thresholds would breach Labour’s manifesto promise not to raise taxes on working people.
She said: ‘If [Ms Reeves] freezes income tax thresholds she will, according to her own words in her own Budget speech last year, be breaching the Labour manifesto.
‘And she should have the balls to stand up on Wednesday and admit that to British taxpayers – anything less will confirm that she is a coward who can’t take responsibility for her actions.’
