Thirty times Rachel Reeves said she wouldn't raise tax

Since January 2024

1. Rachel Reeves said she would not raise taxes on working people. STUDIO: ‘Is it fair to say that capital gains tax in some capacity will be altered on 30th of October?’ REEVES: ’I’m not going to get into speculation about individual tax changes, but our manifesto commitments, which was not to increase taxes on working people and that means income tax, national insurance and VAT rates, but also not to increase corporation tax to cap at its current level for the duration of this Parliament’ (Sky News, 23 September 2024).

2. Rachel Reeves said she is ‘confident’ that economic growth will deliver ‘money for our public services without increasing taxes’. REEVES: ‘I am confident the prize at the end of that is economic growth and with economic growth comes more money in the pockets of working people, better jobs in all of our communities, and money for our public services without increasing taxes because the tax receipts come in from a growing economy’ (BBC Newscast Podcast, 23 September 2024).

3. Rachel Reeves said she wanted to ‘protect’ working people from tax increases. REEVES: ‘Well, we made a commitment in our manifesto around working people, and we said because we understood the cost of living pressures that working people were facing, we were not going to increase the basic higher or additional rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT. We want to protect working people. We also made a commitment to cap corporation tax at its current rate for the duration of this Parliament, and we will stick to our manifesto commitments’ (BBC Radio 4, Today, 23 September 2024).

4. Rachel Reeves said Labour will not raise taxes on working people. REEVES: ‘But we made a commitment in our manifesto that we’ll be sticking to, which is that we don’t want to increase taxes on working people and we will be keeping income tax, national insurance and value added tax at the rates they are for the duration of this Parliament, I would like taxes on working people to be lower, but I believe that you can’t make promises without being able to say where the money is going to come from’ (Bloomberg, 5 August 2024).

5. Rachel Reeves said people will have more money in their pockets under Labour and she wanted to ‘bring the tax burden down’. REEVES: ‘I want to bring that tax burden high, down because I want to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business, and I want working people to keep more of their own money in their pockets, and that’s what people will have with this new Labour Government’ (Bloomberg, 5 August 2024).

6. Rachel Reeves said she would ‘stick to’ her promise to not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT. STUDIO: ‘Can you at least rule out further changes to pension tax relief in the budget, as is being mentioned or suggested in some papers?’ REEVES: ‘I’m not going to write a budget on this program, but the commitments we made in our manifesto not to increase national insurance, vat or income tax and also the triple lock, our commitments in our manifesto stand. We will stick by those but there will be more difficult decisions to come in the budget because of the inheritance that we now face ’ (LBC, 30 July 2024).

7. Rachel Reeves said that the commitment not to raise taxes on working people still stands – after claiming there was a £22 billion blackhole in public finances. STUDIO: ‘And you said, more difficult choices to come in the autumn statement is the manifesto pledge on income tax, VAT and National Insurance. Is that still ironclad, or does this revelation of the black hole change things immediately?’ REEVES: ‘The commitments, all the commitments we made in our manifesto, still hold. I said that taxes on working people are too high, and that’s why I made that commitment in our manifesto, not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT I stand by those commitments’ (Sky News, 30 July 2024, archived).

8. Rachel Reeves said she would not raise taxes on working people. REEVES: ‘I said that taxes on working people are too high, and that’s why I made that commitment in our manifesto, not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT I stand by those commitments. I repeated them at the dispatch box yesterday’ (Sky News, 30 July 2024).

9. Rachel Reeves said she wants to see taxes on working people be lower. REEVES: ‘I want taxes on working people to be lower’ (CNBC, 29 July 2024).

10. Rachel Reeves said it was ‘not true’ that Labor would put up taxes. STUDIO: ‘You’re going to have to put up taxes aren’t you?’ REEVES: ‘Well, that’s not true. National Insurance stayed at the rates it was for the first term of the Labour government. We made a commitment not to increase income tax, National insurance or VAT for the full term of, a Labour government for a simple reason’ (BBC News, 5 July 2024).

11. Rachel Reeves said Labour will not increase taxes on working people. REEVES: ‘That is why I have restated our commitment not to increase taxes on working people—there will be no increases in income tax, national insurance or VAT. That is the commitment on which we campaigned in this election, and I stand by that commitment’ (Hansard, 29 July 2024, Vol. 752 Col. 1047).

12. Rachel Reeves said there was ‘no need’ to increase taxes ‘beyond the limited increases that [Labour have] already set out’. REEVES: ‘Well, look, we’ve made that commitment about the key taxes that working people pay income tax, National Insurance and VAT. But there is no need to increase any taxes beyond the limited increases that we’ve already set out’ (The Times, What I Wish I’d Known, 21 June 2024).

13. Rachel Reeves said she doesn’t ‘wake up in the morning thinking, how can I tax people more’. REEVES: ‘I’m not going to write five years worth of, of of budgets. But I’ve been really clear that I don’t see the way to prosperity as being through higher taxes. I see it through higher growth. I don’t wake up in the morning thinking, how can I tax people more’ (The Times, What I Wish I’d Known, 21 June 2024).

14. Rachel Reeves said she is going to focus on growth not ‘fiddling around on tax rates’. REEVES: ‘I guess, you know, if I do become chancellor, where is my focus going to be? Is it going to be on fiddling around on tax rates, or is it going to be on doing the things to unlock growth and it’s going to be focussed on growth. That is what I’m going to come into the Treasury with a single minded determination to do, because if we can fix that, if we can get our economic growth rates up, we can achieve so many of the things that I came into politics to achieve’ (The Times, What I Wish I’d Known, 21 June 2024).

15. Rachel Reeves said aside from the tax rises she set out in the general election Labour didn’t ‘need to raise’ any additional taxes. STUDIO: ‘You haven’t ruled out increasing the taxes that you said you believed in increasing when you were a backbencher. You haven’t ruled out an increase in capital gains tax. You used to believe it was a good idea. You haven’t ruled out an increase in inheritances...’ REEVES: ‘We don’t need to increase any of those taxes. We’ve set out the taxes...’ (BBC Radio 4, Today, 19 June 2024).

16. Rachel Reeves said there will be ‘no increases in income tax, national insurance or VAT’. REEVES: ‘Working people are by definition those people who go out to work to earn their income. They’ve had a tough time these last 14 years. We want to make it a bit easier, which is why we said there’ll be no increases in income tax, national Insurance or VAT for the duration of the next parliament because we don’t want to make life even harder for working people who have been hard hit by this Conservative government’ (BBC Radio 4, Today, 19 June 2024).

17. Rachel Reeves said Labour’s plans will break the UK out of a ‘high tax, low growth’ loop. REEVES: ‘He’s seen that we have changed, but he’s also saying that the Conservative Party have changed at the become a high tax, low growth party. We need to break out of this. And that’s what our plans will do’ (BBC Breakfast, 19 June 2024).

18. Rachel Reeves said she will not increase ‘income tax, national insurance or VAT for the duration of the Parliament’. REEVES: ‘I have committed that we will not increase, the Labour government will not increase income tax, national insurance or VAT for the duration of the parliament if we win the general election in four weeks time, that is my pledge to working people’ (LBC, 5 June 2024).

19. Rachel Reeves said she will not raise taxes on working people. REEVES: ‘Absolutely clear that Labour will not be putting up taxes on working people’ (ITV News, 5 June 2024).

20. Rachel Reeves said there will be ‘no increase in income tax, national insurance or VAT’ if she is Chancellor. REEVES: ‘I’ve made the promise no increases in income tax, national insurance or VAT if I am Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rishi Sunak lied last night. He lied about Labour’s policies’ (ITV News, 5 June 2024).

21. Rachel Reeves said she ‘will not raise taxes on working people’. ‘If I become Chancellor, I will not raise taxes on working people. That is my promise to you’ (Rachel Reeves, Twitter, 5 June 2024).

22. Rachel Reeves said she will ‘not be raising taxes on working people’. ‘The Prime Minister lied. Labour will not be raising taxes on working people’ (Rachel Reeves, Twitter, 5 June 2024).

23. Rachel Reeves said she ‘didn’t come into politics to raise taxes on working people’. ‘I didn’t come into politics to raise taxes on working people. Labour will not put up your income tax, national insurance or VAT’ (Rachel Reeves, Twitter, 4 June 2024).

24. Rachel Reeves said Labour’s plans ‘don’t require any further increases in taxes’ other than the tax rises set out in Labour’s manifesto. STUDIO: ‘Now at the event here in Derbyshire. You just said that there are no additional tax rises needed beyond the ones that are set out. How long does that promise last for?’ REEVES: ‘Well, our manifesto sets out what we would like to do in the next Labour government and all of our promises. The 40,000 additional appointments a week in the NHS, the 6500 additional teachers in our schools. All of those are fully costed and fully funded. They don’t require any further increases in taxes’ (Sky News, 28 May 2024).

25. Rachel Reeves said she wanted taxes to be ‘lower’ and ‘income tax and national insurance wont go up’. REEVES: ‘So I want taxes on working people to be lower, but I’m not going to make commitments without saying where the money is going to come from. But I can make the commitment that income tax and national Insurance won’t go up under a Labour government’ (GB News, 28 May 2024).

26. Rachel Reeves said she is not in the ‘business’ of ‘tinkering’ with tax rates. REEVES: ‘The Tories have taken taxes to their highest level in 70 years, with 26 tax increases in this Parliament alone. I’m not in the business of tinkering with tax rates’ (Sky News, 28 May 2024).

27. Rachel Reeves said Labour’s manifesto was not about ‘more tax increases and tax changes’. REEVES: ‘That is what our manifesto is all about. Not more tax increases and tax changes, which is the Conservative way now’ (Sky News, 28 May 2024).

28. Rachel Reeves said she ‘voters can have confidence’ that Labour’s plans do not require further tax rises than those they have set out. REEVES: ‘There is nothing in our plans that require any further increases in taxes. I have confidence in that. Voters can have confidence in that...’ (Sky News, 28 May 2024).

29. Rachel Reeves said she had ‘no plans for increased taxes’. REEVES: ‘Well, we have no plans for increased taxes. And indeed we said at the weekend that for the duration of the next Parliament, there will be no increases in income tax and national insurance. I would like those taxes to be lower. But I’m not going to make any unfunded commitments to cut taxes without being able to say where the money’s going to come from’ (Sky News, 28 May 2024).

30. Rachel Reeves said people should not be worried that Labour will take money out of their bank accounts by putting up tax. STUDIO: ‘Rachel Reeves, reports that savers are taking money out of their accounts before a Labour government. Are they right to be worried?’ REEVES: ‘No. A Labour Government is determined to grow the economy and to ensure that people have more of their own money in their pockets. And after 14 years of an economy that has flatlined, 25 Tory tax rises and public services that are on their knees, it’s time for change in Britain’ (GB News, 5 January 2024).