Rachel Reeves faced a furious backlash yesterday over a possible and highly controversial shake-up of property levies.
The Chancellor was warned that proposals to replace stamp duty with an annual charge on homes worth more than £500,000 would damage the market as well as punish people who have worked hard to own their houses.
And one of her Treasury ministers refused to rule out the possibility of her introducing the radical change in the Budget as she seeks to fill a £50 billion black hole in the public finances.
Labour vowed before the last election that it would 'not increase taxes on working people', ruling out rises in National Insurance, income tax or VAT.
But that language seemed to soften yesterday. Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: 'Labour can equivocate all they like, but we know they are drawing up plans to raise taxes yet again at the Autumn Budget.
