Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Britain's Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended her new budget to the parliament to the consternation of many who claim the Labour government is raising taxes on working people and going back on its promises.
The most controversial budget item is the freeze on tax thresholds. Normally, tax thresholds -- tax brackets -- are raised with inflation. But the freeze means that some people who get a raise in income will be put into higher tax brackets, forcing them to pay more.
Reeves has said that freezing tax thresholds does not breach Labour's manifesto, which said, "Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase national insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or [value-added tax]"
Reeves hosted a press conference outside a hospital and defended the freeze. A Sky News political editor challenged her, saying that in a speech last year, Reeves said that freezing tax thresholds would be a breach of the party's manifesto. The reporter asked, "How in good conscience can you stay on in your job?"
Reeves answered that the manifesto was about the rates of income tax and VAT. But that she was "not going to get into semantics."
