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Splits have emerged at the top of Labour over breaking its manifesto promises on tax hikes, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced to reprimand a Cabinet minister over ethics and defend another from criticism over the handling of mistaken prison releases. Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the government ‘should be following through’ 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. Powell’s warning that a break could damage ‘trust in politics’ 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. Starmer will return to the UK from Cop30 in Brazil with questions swirling about Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy’s handling of a mistaken prisoner release. 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 ‘error’ that led to the convicted sex offender being freed, rather than his actual release. Lammy came under fire from Cabinet colleagues, with The Times quoting anonymous senior ministers as saying he was ‘cowardly’ and guilty of ‘rank incompetence’. But the prime minister, while at the Belem summit, backed his deputy by saying it was ‘right’ he was ‘setting out the facts to the best of his knowledge’. Meanwhile, Starmer 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 ‘unknowingly’ breached the governance code on public appointments by failing to declare she had received £2,900 in donations from her pick to chair the new football watchdog. The commissioner for public appointments William Shawcross ruled that the government’s appointment of Labour donor David Kogan made three breaches of the code. As well as Nandy’s failure to disclose his donations to her 2020 leadership campaign, the potential conflict of interest arising from that was not discussed with Kogan at interview, and his links to the Labour Party were not revealed, the report said. The prime minister told Nandy in a written reply that she had ‘acted in good faith’, but reprimanded her by saying ‘the process followed was not entirely up to the standard expected’. It came after Starmer last week cleared Reeves over her failure to obtain a rental licence for her south London family home, and Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader following a row about her tax affairs. Powell was sacked from Starmer’s Cabinet in September before winning the race to succeed 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: ‘We should be following through on our manifesto, of course. ‘Trust in politics is a key part of that because if we’re to take the country with us then they’ve got to trust us and that’s really important too.’ Powell said the highly-anticipated Budget should be about ‘putting more money back into the pockets of ordinary working people’. She added: ‘That’s what that manifesto commitment is all about. And that’s what this Budget will be about, I’m sure. ‘It’s really important we stand by the promises that we were elected on and that we do what we said we would do.’ The challenge comes after a speech by 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 Powell later said she would continue to support the chancellor. ‘As Lucy made clear in the interview the chancellor and prime minister make decisions on the budget in the round. ‘As the chancellor said this week, the context for this budget is particularly difficult and Lucy will continue to support them on these issues.’ Reeves could use a 2p rise in income tax to help plug what the National Institute of Economic & Social Research said is a £50 billion black hole in the nation’s public finances and give herself a larger fiscal headroom. source: PA Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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