Rachel Reeves will face vexed business leaders today who have accused Labour or stalling economic growth by taxing businesses more heavily.
At the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference today in Westminster, the Chancellor will be grilled over her October Budget, which has been slammed for “damaging investment”.
The CBI’s director-general, Rain Newton-Smith will urge Reeves to ease the pressure on struggling companies, and will insist that the tax hikes recently implemented should never be repeated.
She is expected to say: “When you hit profits, you hit competitiveness, you hit investment, you hit growth.
“Almost two-thirds of firms told us this budget will damage UK investment.
“Tax rises like this must never again be simply done to business. That’s the road to unintended consequences.”
The Chancellor will face delegates at the event in London where she will defend her decision to hike business costs, claiming she had “no alternative”.
Announced last month in Labour’s first Budget in 14 years, the Chancellor said there would be a £25billion increase in employer national insurance contributions (NICs). Employers have warned that this will force them to cut jobs and raise prices.
Speaking at the event, Reeves is expected to say: “I have heard lots of responses to the government’s first budget but I have heard no alternatives.
“We have asked businesses and the wealthiest to contribute more. I know those choices will have an impact. But I stand by those choices as the right choices for our country: investment to fix the NHS and rebuild Britain, while ensuring working people don’t face higher taxes in their payslips.
“We had to clear up the mess of what we had been left,” Reeves will tell the CBI. “The easiest thing I could have done is to have dodged the difficult choices. Put short-term interests before the national interest. I was not willing to do that.”
Drink spiking to be made a criminal offence under Labour in bid to protect women and girls
Drink spiking to be made a criminal offence under Labour
PA
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to make drink spiking a criminal offence as part of a crackdown on violence against women and girls.
The Prime Minister has said that bar staff will be trained to stop spiking, help victims, and collect evidence to support prosecutions by Spring 2025.
He is bringing chief constables, transport bosses and industry executives to Downing Street today to form a united response to “bring the vile perpetrators to justice”.
Labour pledged in its manifesto to make spiking an offence, and whilst it is unclear when the legislation would be introduced, ministers and officials are understood to be trying to bring it in swiftly.
The Prime Minister said: “I made a promise that, if elected, I would make spiking a new criminal offence. Today, I am proud to have come good on that pledge.”
He said the proposals are part of Labour’s plan to halve violence on females in the next decade.
Home Office minister defends Justice Secretary’s opposition to assisted dying bill
Home Office minister defends Justice Secretary’s opposition to assisted dying bill
PA
Home Office minister Jess Phillips has defended her colleague Shabana Mahmood’s criticism of the assisted dying Bill, despite being in favour of it herself.
Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood is one of several senior Cabinet figures who has announced that they would not be supporting the Bill.
She and other opponents have been criticised by Labour peer Lord Falconer as giving voters a “false impression” about the Government’s position.
The former Justice Secretary said that those who were against the Bill were “getting more coverage” as those in favour were instead “playing by the rules”.
Mahmood told a constituent she was “profoundly concerned” the Bill would initiate a “slippery slope towards death on demand” and that “the state should never offer death as a service”.
Asked by Times Radio if Mahmood was imposing her faith on others by announcing she would not support the Bill, Phillips said: “She will make the decision about how she votes on assisted dying on a matter of conscience, just exactly like I will.
“How she comes to that and what moral code she uses to come to that will be exactly the same as the moral code that I use to come to that decision as well.”
She added: “I think that Shabana is making a decision on what she thinks is best for her constituents, like every constituency MP.”
Phillips said she “fundamentally” believes in “a right to choose”.