Keir Starmer And Rachel Reeves Could Be Preparing For Their Biggest U-Turn Yet. Here's Why

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves during a visit to a Jaguar Land Rover car factory in Birmingham in April.Rachel Reeves could not have been clearer as she delivered her first Budget last October.The chancellor told MPs that she had considered whether or not to maintain the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds, which were brought in by the Tories and are due to stay in place until 2029.The effect of the policy is to drag millions of workers into higher tax bands when their pay goes up, raising tens of billions of pounds for the Treasury in the process.But critics say this is a stealth tax, a sneaky way of giving the chancellor more money to spend without having to increase the rate of income tax or National Insurance.Delivering her Budget, Reeves told the Commons that under Labour, this practice would end.“Extending their threshold freeze for a further two years raises billions of pounds,” she said. “Money to deal with the black hole in our public finances, and repair our public services.“Having considered this issue closely, I have come to the conclusion that extending the threshold freeze would hurt working people. It would take money out of their payslips.“I am keeping every single promise on tax that I made in our manifesto. So there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax and National Insurance thresholds beyond the decisions of the previous government.“From 2028/29, personal tax thresholds will be uprated in line with inflation once again.”But with the chancellor struggling to balance the nation’s books, all the signs are that she is set to recant on her previous position when she delivers her next Budget in the autumn.At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked Keir Starmer if he stood by Labour’s election manifesto pledge not to put up income tax, VAT or National Insurance. The PM delivered a one word answer: “Yes.”But when Badenoch asked the prime minister if Reeves stood by her promise to lift the freeze on income tax thresholds, he was much more equivocal.“We are absolutely fixed on our fiscal rules, we remain committed to them,” Starmer said, completely dodging the question.“We remain committed to our Budget, to our manifesto commitments.”Badenoch replied: “The whole House would have heard him fail to rule out freezing tax thresholds. He could say with the first question, he could promise, but he couldn’t this time round.”She said maintaining the freeze meant “millions of our poorest pensioners face being dragged into income tax for the first time ever”.Once again, Starmer failed to rule out maintaining the Tory threshold freeze, saying once again: “We will stick to our manifesto commitments, we will stick to our fiscal rules.”Speaking to journalists afterwards, the prime minister’s spokesman repeatedly refused to say whether Reeves stands by her commitment to end the freeze.Of course, performing an embarrassing U-turn would not be a new experience for the PM, who has turned it into something of an art form thanks to climbdowns on, among other things, winter fuel payments and welfare cuts – decisions which have left Reeves needing to urgently raise more funds.Voters tend to be forgiving of politicians who actually change their minds when the tide turns against them.But they may be less patient when the U-turn in question ends up hitting them in the pocket.Related...Nigel Farage Gets Schooled By Keir Starmer As He Tries To Stir The Brexit PotKeir Starmer's Government Sinks To Its Lowest Ever Approval Rating After A Year In Power'It's A Shitshow': After A Year Of Mistakes And U-Turns, Can Keir Starmer Turn It Around?

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