By Kavita Mistry 
As Britain moves towards its November 26 Autumn Budget, Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer Rachel Reeves refused to commit to her (Labour) party’s manifesto promise that it would not raise certain taxes, including the basic and higher rates of income tax.
In a pre-budget speech, aimed at explaining the context in which she was considering policy changes coming at the end of the month, Ms Reeves refused to commit to Labour’s 2024 election promise not to raise income tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), or National Insurance (i.e., social security payments).
Asked if she was willing to lose the next election for breaking manifesto promises, Ms Reeves said,” We’e got to do the right things,” and that the “national interest” came before “political expediency”. The Labour Party came into power in July 2024 and claimed that it was faced with a £22 billion “black hole” in Britain’s public finances left by the Conservatives who had been in power for 14 years.
The Chancellor pointed to low productivity in Britain being a consequence of low public investments and poor infrastructure, regionally-unbalanced growth, among others. Ms. Reeves said she was “laser focused” on getting the national debt down so borrowing costs come down. This , she argued, was so the government could spend on the National Health Services (for instance), security, schools or tax cuts.
Having changed the government’s fiscal rules (budget rules the UK government has set itself) in her first budget last autumn, Ms Reeves on Tuesday said her commitment to the modified rules was “iron-clad”.
Ms Reeves pointed to global difficulties contributing to Britain’s on-going challenges since the last budget, listing the “continual threat of tariffs” which dampening growth and investment, volatile supply chains and the need to increase defence spending in an “uncertain world” .
The Treasury is currently weighing options on policies to be announced at the end of the month and no final decisions have been made as per reporting. One of the reported policies being considered, which could impact those living in the U.K. temporarily is a “settling up” charge of 20% on capital gains made on shares when they cease to be resident in the U.K.