Opposition parties will be intensely scrutinising the King’s Speech for any “sneaky tax rises” Labour plan to impose, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Chris Philip has told GB News.
He told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster he is “worried already” about the Starmer-led government imposing hefty costs on Britons to fund new projects.
Philp, one of the 121 Tories who managed to keep their seat after a chastening General Election defeat for the party, said on GB News: “Rachel Reeves’ said a speech a week ago she was going to rip up the green belt. Ed Miliband announced about a week ago he was immediately cancelling all oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, even ones that are in progress being granted.
“That’s going to make our energy prices more expensive and it’s going to make us more reliant on imported gas. So there are a couple of things that I’m worried about already.”
Chris Philp warned about Labour’s plans for ‘sneaky tax rises’
PA / GB NEWS
He added: “We do accept of course that we need to build more houses. The last Government did build 2.5 million more houses and considerably increased the rate of house building compared to what the previous Labour Government left behind in 2010.
“But new homes should be built in the right places. There’s things like brownfield sites and it’s things like building high in city centres, the middle of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, and so on.
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“The middle of cities is the place to build very high density, but we’ll hold them to account for that of course.
“We’re also going to be watching very carefully to make sure there aren’t any sneaky tax rises, which obviously the Labour Party said they weren’t going to do during the election.
“This stuff that Rachel Reeves has been saying, claiming that the fiscal position is worse than she expected, is obvious nonsense.
“The OBR obviously assesses our fiscal position. They published their own forecasts a few months ago that she obviously saw, and we’ve seen today’s inflation figure staying down at 2% on target, lower than the Euro zone, lower than the USA.”
Chris Philp joined Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster on GB News
GB NEWS
Labour has insisted it will not increase income tax, national insurance or VAT.
The party hit out at the Tories prior to the election, saying it is a consequence of the party’s policies that Britons are now shelling out for the highest tax burden in 70 years.
Labour said it would raise funds with measures such as ending tax breaks for private schools and closing loopholes which allow the mega rich to avoid taxation while living in Britain.
During the GB News interview, Philp went on to admit that Sunak’s decision to call a snap election left him shocked.
Keir Starmer is the new Prime Minister PAHe said: “I was taken by surprise…a November date was a better idea. I was never a fan of the early election date.
“…all of these are really good economic indicators that obviously could have provided us with a boost ahead of an autumn election.
“But that’s water under the bridge now and what it does mean is Rachel Reeves has no excuse whatsoever for any sneaky tax rises.”