What's the context? City AM Editor explains how Labour's budget has ‘failed’

Before the election, Starmer said: “Our plans do not involve tax rises over and above the ones we’ve set out in relation to non-dom status and private equity loopholes, VAT on private schools and a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.” Well, those tax hikes emerged, along with a raft of new ones including a £25bn annual raid on employers' national insurance, punchy hikes to Capital Gains and higher levies on inheritance, stamp duty on second homes, vaping and, for good measure, private jets. Taken together they represent an act of spectacular dishonesty by the government, whose claims that new taxes were needed to fill a £22bn fiscal black hole left by the previous government were seriously undermined by the Office for Budget Responsibility which refused to endorse the theory at a press conference yesterday. Beyond taking the tax burden to unprecedented levels, the Chancellor also announced a borrowing binge amounting to £28bn more than previously planned for 2025/26 alone. The government hopes that pouring this money into public services and investment will stimulate growth, and the OBR agrees that it will, in the short term, through what the IFS describes as “a sugar rush”. Get more on the story 👇 https://www.cityam.com/only-growth-can-save-labour-and-the-country/ Get more of City AM 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam