Rachel Reeves admits autumn Budget likely to hit pay for workers

Labour’s Budget tax increase on employers could hit workers’ pay, Rachel Reeves has admitted.

Asked whether the move is a jobs tax which will take money out of people’s pockets, the chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday (31 October): “This will have an impact in wage growth, for example.

“Look, what alternative was there? We had a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.”

She later added: “I did not want to increase the key taxes that working people pay: income tax, VAT and employee national insurance. So we have increased national insurance on employers.”