𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reeves walloped the nation with £40billion of tax rises in 2024, followed by another £26billion in 2025. Both her Budgets descended into chaos and confusion as leaks piled upon leaks, tax hikes were floated and reversed, and taxpayers took a beating. Yesterday’s Budget was a bit of a yawn, but Healey’s job isn’t to entertain the nation. It’s to sort out the nation’s finances. Dull but reassuring would have been fine by me. Instead we got dull but deadly.

This was supposed to be a “steady-as-she-goes” Budget. A “do-no-harm” Budget. Ultimately, though, it was just another Labour Budget, and we all know what that means. More tax, more spending, more borrowing, more debt. This morning the numbers are in, courtesy of accountancy group UHY Hacker Young, and they’re ugly. Despite all his bland talk, Healey still managed to increase taxes by a whopping £8.6billion.

That’s small beer compared with Reeves, but remember, yesterday’s haul comes on top of what she’s already taking. Since 2010, UHY Hacker Young calculates that Budgets have increased taxes by an average of just £4.9billion. That includes the tax blitz by former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the aftermath of Covid and the Liz Truss crisis. Yesterday’s £8.6billion was a staggering 75% more than that, piled on an economy desperately in need of a break. Healey just lifted the tax burden to the highest ever.

The last thing hard-pressed savers and businesses needed was another classic Labour tax grab, coupled with a failure to get a grip on the rocketing benefits bill. That’s what we got. Again.

Ordinary people got off relatively lightly, with ‘just’ £2.3billion in extra taxes, much of it courtesy of his deeply misguided attack on people’s savings. I wonder how many savers will be delighted to discover that the money they’ve squirrelled away will be raided to pay other people’s benefits. Perhaps they’ll feel a virtuous glow. Perhaps not.

Healey went to town on businesses while pretending he was helping them. It’s a familiar trick. He pulled it with the armed forces and the banks, too. Not such a nice guy after all.

Brian Carey, tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “Recent Budgets have significantly increased the cost of doing business, and this one is no exception.”

As higher taxes choke off growth, we pay again through fewer jobs, lower wages and a weaker economy. All on top of the cost-of-living crisis and Labour’s tax blitz. And £100 off energy bills won’t reverse that.