Splits have emerged at the top of Labour over breaking its manifesto promises on tax hikes, as Sir Keir Starmer was forced to reprimand a Cabinet minister over ethics and defend another from criticism over the handling of mistaken prison releases.
Labourâs new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the Government âshould be following throughâ on its manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, amid mounting speculation Rachel Reeves is preparing to do so at the Budget.
Ms Powellâs warning that a break could damage âtrust in politicsâ could cause a headache for the Prime Minister and Chancellor, whose recent comments have heightened expectations that the November 26 statement will feature an increase in the basic rate of income tax.
Sir Keir will return to the UK from Cop30 in Brazil with questions swirling about Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammyâs handling of a mistaken prisoner release.
Mr Lammy has faced scrutiny over his refusal to answer questions in the House of Commons about the wrongful release of Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who is still on the run.
He has also been accused of potentially misleading the public by claiming the error happened before new security checks were implemented, while previously indicating the measures had been in place two days prior to the release.
It later appeared he had misspoken and had been referring to the âerrorâ that led to the convicted sex offender being freed, rather than his actual release.
Mr Lammy came under fire from Cabinet colleagues, with The Times quoting anonymous senior ministers as saying he was âcowardlyâ and guilty of ârank incompetenceâ.
But the Prime Minister, while at the Belem summit, backed his deputy by saying it was ârightâ he was âsetting out the facts to the best of his knowledgeâ.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir received a second apology from a Cabinet minister over an inadvertent ethics breach in a week.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy apologised after being found by a probe to have âunknowinglyâ breached the governance code on public appointments by failing to declare she had received ÂŁ2,900 in donations from her pick to chair the new football watchdog.
The commissioner for public appointments Sir William Shawcross ruled that the Governmentâs appointment of Labour donor David Kogan made three breaches of the code.
As well as Ms Nandyâs failure to disclose his donations to her 2020 leadership campaign, the potential conflict of interest arising from that was not discussed with Mr Kogan at interview, and his links to the Labour Party were not revealed, the report said.
The Prime Minister told Ms Nandy in a written reply that she had âacted in good faithâ, but reprimanded her by saying âthe process followed was not entirely up to the standard expectedâ.
It came after Sir Keir last week cleared Ms Reeves over her failure to obtain a rental licence for her south London family home, and Angela Raynerâs resignation as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader following a row about her tax affairs.
Ms Powell was sacked from Sir Keirâs Cabinet in September before winning the race to succeed Ms Rayner as deputy party leader last month after a campaign based on a call for the party to change course.
The former Commons leader told BBC Radio 5 Live: âWe should be following through on our manifesto, of course.
âTrust in politics is a key part of that because if weâre to take the country with us then theyâve got to trust us and thatâs really important too.â
Ms Powell said the highly-anticipated Budget should be about âputting more money back into the pockets of ordinary working peopleâ.
She added: âThatâs what that manifesto commitment is all about. And thatâs what this Budget will be about, Iâm sure.
âItâs really important we stand by the promises that we were elected on and that we do what we said we would do.â
The challenge comes after a speech by Ms Reeves on Tuesday was widely seen to have set the stage for tax hikes.
The Chancellor has told the Office for Budget Responsibility that she is preparing to raise income tax later this month, The Times reported.
The watchdog will inform the Treasury of its assessment of the impact of the measure on Monday, the penultimate round of forecasts before the Budget, according to the newspaper.
A spokesperson for Ms Powell later said she would continue to support the Chancellor.
âAs Lucy made clear in the interview the Chancellor and Prime Minister make decisions on the Budget in the round.
âAs the Chancellor said this week, the context for this Budget is particularly difficult and Lucy will continue to support them on these issues.â
Ms Reeves could use a 2p rise in income tax to help plug what the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said is a ÂŁ50 billion black hole in the nationâs public finances and give herself a larger fiscal headroom.
