No 10 launches charm offensive to avoid budget backlash among Labour MPs

Downing Street has been preparing MPs for going back on its manifesto pledge and raising income taxUK politics live – latest updatesIf Keir Starmer’s election campaign was carrying a ming vase across an ice rink, then this budget – according to one minister – is like “wrestling a squirrel across a minefield”.It is an allusion to the biggest risk for Rachel Reeves, not the markets or big business, but Labour MPs. It was those MPs who were the key audience for the chancellor’s highly unusual speech preparing the ground for possible income tax rises. Continue reading...