'I've not broken any promises' Chancellor and Leeds MP defends Budget decisions
The Chancellor has insisted that tax rises at the Budget did not break Labour’s manifesto commitments.
The Leeds West and Pudsey MP, Rachel Reeves, said she was proud of her Budget announced earlier this week.
As part of a raft of measures Ms Reeves hiked taxes by £26 billion, including by freezing thresholds on income tax.
The tax hikes come in response to downgraded economic forecasts but also increased welfare spending because of the abolition of the two-child benefit cap and the Labour revolt over attempts to curb the benefits bill.
She has insisted that tax rises at the Budget did not break Labour’s manifesto commitments.
Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I have asked people to make a contribution.
“We didn’t break the manifesto. We haven’t broken the manifesto because that explicitly said about the rates.
“But are you asking, am I asking working people to pay a bit more? Yes, I am asking working people to pay a bit more.”
She also told Laura Kuenssberg this morning that she had been underestimated “all the way through my life”.
She said she was proud of her Budget and added: "I have made my choices and I am more than happy to defend them”.
Ms Reeves has also defended abolishing the two-child benefit cap in the Budget announced earlier this week.
Asked whether the Government had bowed to pressure from Labour MPs in abolishing the cap, the Chancellor told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “We’re choosing children.
“This lifts more than half a million children out of poverty, combined with our changes on free breakfast clubs, extending free school meals, 30 hours free childcare for working parents and preschool-age children.”
She added: “The people I was thinking about were kids who I know in my constituency go to school hungry and go to bed in cold and damp homes, and from April next year those parents will have a bit more support to help their kids.”