Mel Stride: Labour will be putting up taxes and borrowing more – but they won’t admit it

Mel Stride is the Shadow Chancellor and MP for Central Devon

Labour are not being straight with the public. Rachel Reeves repeatedly claims that she has brought ‘stability’ and ‘fixed the public finances’, but the facts tell a different story.

After less than a year in office, Labour have already added nearly £80 billion to our expected debt interest bill over this parliament. Labour’s borrowing is already running 70 per cent higher than under the previous Conservative government’s plans. May alone saw a staggering £17.7 billion borrowed – the highest borrowing figure ever for that month outside of the pandemic, despite a significant rise in tax receipts from Labour’s Jobs Tax.

This should concern every single taxpayer in Britain. What we are seeing is not stability, but the warning signs of a government losing control of the nation’s finances.

If taxes are rising, why is borrowing also increasing? The answer lies in Labour’s unsustainable and uncosted spending commitments. Despite repeated promises of fiscal responsibility from the self-styled ‘Iron Chancellor’, Labour’s Tin Foil Chancellor has folded whenever anyone asks for money – opting for higher spending, increased borrowing, and a refusal to take difficult fiscal decisions.

The reality is stark.

Interest on the national debt now costs the taxpayer £100 billion a year – almost twice the UK’s entire defence budget. That is money not going towards our schools, hospitals or bringing taxes down for working families. And based on Labour’s current trajectory, that figure is set to rise to £130 billion annually by the end of this Parliament. This is not investment; it is the cost of poor choices, and weak leadership.

Despite warnings from independent experts that her fiscal headroom has likely vanished, Rachel Reeves continues to avoid answering the key question: how does she intend to pay for all this?

The answer is all too familiar. Tax rises.

We’ve already seen a £25 billion jobs tax through higher employer national insurance contributions – a blow to businesses just as they were regaining momentum. Labour’s plans include five percent annual council tax hikes, and they are refusing to reveal how much of the police funding announced at the Spending Review will also come from further council tax rises. Notably, Ministers now refuse to rule out more tax increases in the Autumn Budget. The Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, has even suggested a menu of further tax options in a leaked memo.

Let’s be clear – tax rises are coming – not because of external shocks, but because of the Chancellor’s mismanagement. This path leads only to weaker growth, higher interest rates, and a reduced ability to respond to future shocks.

Britain deserves better.

Families making hard choices every day on food, fuel and mortgages expect the same discipline from their government. Under Kemi Badenoch, the Conservatives are committed to responsible management of the public finances – ensuring spending is sustainable and taxpayers’ money is treated with respect.

As Shadow Chancellor, I am clear that we have to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing. A future Conservative government will have to contend with a bloated national debt after Labour’s reckless borrowing splurge. We will never make promises we cannot afford, and our plans will always be fully costed. And we will continue to hold this government to account so working people are not asked to pay more because of Labour’s failures.

Labour’s “Spend Now, Tax Later” approach is utterly shortsighted. It mortgages Britain’s future for short-term political convenience and leaves ordinary families to foot the bill.

At a time when we need serious leadership, Labour is offering only slogans and spiralling debt. The public can see through it. They know when they’re being misled. And we now hear reports that a secret plan is already being drawn up in the Treasury for further tax rises come the Budget.

It’s time for the Chancellor to come clean: she knows she has set us down a path to higher taxes and higher debt. She should at least admit it.