Richard Holden: After what the Transport Secretary told me, not even Labour’s Budget will surprise me

Richard Holden MP, is the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

Evidence of the sorry start to the Prime Minister’s ‘Phase 2’ blossoms daily in lush abundance.

His Deputy has been forced to resign in disgrace within a week of his relaunch. Sir Keir’s reset reshuffle swiftly descended into farce as Red Ed refused to move. Apparently, Mr Miliband wishes to continue his war on two fronts: against British industry and the British countryside.

Widely mocked too, has been the further elevation of Mastermind’s David Lammy. And one poor junior minister was even forced to return to her previous post just nine days after being sacked from it.

But this is all a mere foretaste of what we will see when Phase 2 hits its maturity and explodes into full bloom.

Chief among the concerns of my Parliamentary colleagues – and every business and taxpayer I meet – is the haunting spectre of Rachel Reeves’s November Budget. Her tax rises have already killed job creation, crippled growth and saddled us with 30-year-high borrowing costs.

Now the OBR has warned the Chancellor that Britain’s productivity forecast will be downgraded, leaving her with an even bigger hole to fill, and only one answer: even more Labour tax rises.

But even in this world, unexpected events still emerge from the ether. News of Lord Mandelson’s friendship and support for convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein re-emerged and dominated the airwaves and the papers for days. What Sir Keir Starmer knew – and when – has become the focus for both the fearful and the ambitious in Labour’s ranks as they turn their minds to their futures.

It was in the midst of this atmosphere that the Chamber of the House of Commons sat recently – and the mood was undoubtedly jumpy.

Some colleagues behind me were already detecting an opening as rumours swirled of potential developments from across the pond. However, the Urgent Question (UQ) on the future of Britain’s Ambassador to the United States, secured by my superb colleague Neil O’Brien, would have to wait until after the first business of the day, Transport Questions, which included my first outing as Shadow Secretary of State.

Oral Questions aren’t where you get answers; it’s more like fencing. You get the chance to stick your opponent if they aren’t quick enough on their feet and, in doing so, reveal something, and not always what you’re hoping for.

With the levels of fear of tax rises and economic uncertainty in the country, every driver, passenger, and transport trade body that has beaten a path to my door thinks they’re ‘for it’ come the November budget, with stealth taxes on steroids for transport. So, I asked the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, straight up: could she rule out new hikes on fuel or flights, the introduction of VAT to private hire, a rise in insurance premium tax or above-inflation rises in rail fares?

I anticipated that she wouldn’t be too keen to commit the Government at the dispatch box to ruling these rises out, especially as some – Air Passenger Duty going up 13 per cent in April – are already happening.

But I wanted to give her an out to show both the sector and the Treasury that she means business. So, I added, if she couldn’t give us the assurance there wouldn’t be tax rises, could she at least tell us that she’d stood up for these sectors in Cabinet or with the Chancellor?

Perhaps already annoyed by my colleague from Fylde, Andrew Snowden’s attack, prior to my question on the bus fare cap being increased by 50 per cent from £2 to £3, the Transport Secretary’s response was dire.

Not only did she throw her folder down hard on the Dispatch Box, then immediately admit that she couldn’t rule out tax rises (fair enough), but she also admitted that she had never spoken in Cabinet or to the Chancellor about them. Not even a gentle nod to fighting for any part of our Transport industries that employ millions.

These issues matter because they go to the heart of economic growth, business confidence, and, most importantly, the wallet and purse of everyone in our country.

Clearly, when it comes to taxing the British people, the Government has gone full Lauren Cooper: they “ain’t bovvered” about piling more misery onto millions.

After over a decade of Conservative freezes to Fuel Duty, Rachel Reeves was forced to hold back in her last Budget. But now the rumours are growing that she may yet press ahead, hitting everyone at the pump.

Air Passenger Duty, already taking off, could face another ratchet, adding heavily to the bill of the family heading off on holiday. And as for private hire taxis, there is currently no VAT beyond booking fees, but the talk is that the Treasury wants to change that too – adding 20 per cent to your journey back from a night out and really hitting our nightlife once more.

And there is the prospect of being punished, again, for doing the right thing. Insurance Premium Tax is at 12 per cent but there are real fears it will be hoicked up to 20 per cent – hurting every motorist, especially the youngest ones, who work hard and play by the rules.

Meanwhile, despite their grand talk of protecting passengers’ pockets with a rail network under state control, they’re still refusing to say how much fares will change in January. There are real fears Labour could whack them up well above inflation by up to a whopping 5.8 per cent. Their promises of Great British Railways may well become the Great British Rip-off.

Questions loom large, like a gigantic camel with endless humps: each one another tax Labour wants to load onto business, drivers, and passengers.

Of course, the Conservatives will stand up for the British people against these tax hikes and extra charges. We will continue to demand that the Government gets its act together and implements policies that boost growth, opportunity and gets welfare spending down rather than costing us billions in paying ever more interest on Labour’s ballooning debt.

Punishing businesses and those who get up and want to go somewhere is hammering the very people the country needs to flourish.

As Kemi said in the City just a couple of weeks ago, unlike many backbench Labour MPs, we’ll work with the Government if it’s serious about reducing spiralling working-age welfare rather than reaching for the lever of stealth tax hikes.

The path Labour takes at the budget will show whose side they’re really on.