The health secretary has warned of “difficult and big choices” coming in the budget, while refusing to rule out that tax thresholds will be frozen.
Wes Streeting told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the government “can’t fix 14 years in one budget” and there are lots of choices “we will have to make that we’d prefer not to have to”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to prolong the freeze on income tax thresholds by two years to 2030 after the previous Conservative government froze them to 2028.
It means thresholds would not start rising with inflation once again, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people being dragged into higher tax bands.
Mr Streeting gave the government’s strongest indication yet it would be freezing those thresholds.
When asked if income tax thresholds will be frozen, he told Trevor Phillips: “There are a whole load of choices that we will have to make that we would prefer to not have to but if we don’t make the choices now we’ll end up paying a much heavier price for failure in the long term.
“We’re not prepared to do that.”
Politics latest: Labour ‘can’t change 14 years in one budget’, says health secretary
World ‘will not tolerate any more excuses’ from Israel on Gaza aid, Starmer says
‘It’s about saving his life’: Son of jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai calls for ‘urgent’ UK intervention after China talks
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
