Rachel Reeves must U-turn on her manifesto pledge not to raise taxes for working people or Sir Keir Starmer’s government will be forced to abandon other key priorities, one of the chancellor’s former top advisers has warned.
Jim O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs chief turned Treasury minister who quit the Conservatives and later advised Ms Reeves, said she faces no choice but to abandon key parts of her economic policy – including her commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance contributions for employees or VAT.
