𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Chancellor remains “completely focused” on the public interest, Lisa Nandy said as she faced questions about reports an income tax hike may be dropped from the Budget.

The Culture Secretary told Sky News it would not be “helpful or right” to speculate about what is in the November 26 announcement.

Asked if the latest speculation made it look like the Government did not know what it was doing, Ms Nandy replied: “I’ve known the Chancellor well for 15 years now, and I can tell you that she is solely and fiercely focused on the challenges facing the country and doing what is in the best interests of the country.

“She’s never been shy of facing people down in order to do that in opposition and in Government.

“Over the course of the last few weeks, obviously I’ve had some discussions with her and her team about measures in the Budget that may affect my department, proposals that we’re making, and discussions that ordinarily happen across Government, and in every one of those discussions, it’s been the public interest that she’s completely focused on.”