Labour raked in a record £100 billion of taxes last month – but fears are growing that Rachel Reeves is coming for more with the public finances in 'chronically weak condition'.
The haul - the highest ever for July - was boosted by Rachel Reeves' employer national insurance raid. However, that policy is also blamed for making it harder for firms to hire and pushing up unemployment.
Ms Reeves' tax hike saw national insurance bring in an extra £2.6 billion last month compared to last year and £9.5 billion extra for the financial year to date.
It helped the government bring July's borrowing – the gap between tax revenues and spending – to a lower than expected £1.1 billion.
That is down from £3.4 billion in July last year. However, total borrowing for the financial year so far, from April to July, is running at £60 billion, £6.7bn ahead of 2024.
