The Health Secretary was grilled on if he would back the freezing of income tax thresholds after previously voting against the measure in opposition.
Wes Streeting has refused to rule out extending the freeze on income tax thresholds in Labour’s upcoming Budget.
The Health Secretary insisted he would not guess what Chancellor Rachel Reeves might introduce next week.
Mr Streeting had previously voted against the measure in opposition while Rishi Sunak was prime minister.
The senior minister told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme: “I’m not going to speculate on what the Chancellor might do in the Budget.
“If you’re asking me whether I would vote against anything in the Chancellor’s Budget? The answer is no, of course I’m not going to do that.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Sky News’s Trevor Phillips (Image: SKY NEWS)
He went on to say: “This country is paying a heavy price for Conservative failure, and we’re going to have to make some big and difficult choices in this Budget to make sure we fix the foundations of the economy and we don’t end up back here.”
He later added: “What we’re not going to do is duck the difficult decisions, have Government by gimmick, short-term sticking plasters, because that is exactly how we ended up in this situation.”
It comes as the Chancellor is reportedly considering pushing the freeze on income tax thresholds, which drags workers into higher brackets, beyond 2028.
Ms Reeves is looking to raise up to £40 billion mainly from tax hikes in the Budget on October 30.
Labour’s manifesto promised not to increase rates of income tax, but included no mention of thresholds.
But Ms Reeves has previously criticised the Tories for freezing income tax thresholds until 2028.
She said last November: “I think it is wrong that every time the Government wants to raise money, [the burden falls] on ordinary people.
“The Government is picking the pockets of ordinary working people. Pay that is supposed to help the rising cost of living, 40% of it is then gone in taxes.”
