𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

UK households have been issued a major Andy Burnham warning as three areas are set to be taxed, according to an expert. Matthew Ryan, Head of Market Strategy at global financial services firm and foreign exchange specialists Ebury, said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, is “generally safe pair of hands” but Labour is contending with a “core tension” as the party is “stuck between appeasing and winning back voters on the one hand, while keeping the bond market onside on the other”.

The Prime Minister has said that he intends to stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which included a promise not to increase the “big three” rates of taxation – Income Tax, VAT and National Insurance. Mr Ryan said: “If he honours such a pledge, it should lend some near-term credibility with markets. Yet it also narrows his fiscal options considerably, and could push the revenue-raising burden onto less politically salient areas such as property, wealth and business taxation.”

“As we’ve been saying for a number of weeks now, we do not think that the pound is adequately pricing in the risk premium associated with the Burnham premiership.

“We’ve seen some relief buying of UK assets of late, which we think is somewhat justified – Burnham’s pledge to stick to the fiscal rules and the appointment of Healey rather than say an Ed Miliband-type figure are reassuring signals for markets.

“We are sceptical that this will hold, however, given that Burnham’s instincts point towards the type of tax, borrow and spend policies that investors have historically balked at.”

Mr Burnham has left the door open for possible tax increases to fund a social care overhaul.

He said: “I won’t stand by and leave people paying the price for Westminster’s refusal to deal with the real issues facing our country.

“That’s what’s happened with our broken social care system, which has been left to decline while politicians pass it back and forth.

“I just don’t accept that this problem is too big to solve. What we need is a new way of doing politics where we come together, face the challenge head on and build an integrated system that gives people security and dignity.

“That’s the commitment I am making to people across this country, and I will give it my all in trying.”