Rachel Reeves issued stark Budget warning as Britons brace for tax hikes: 'This will go down VERY badly'

Rachel Reeves has been warned that raising taxes further would "go down very badly" with Britons.

Speaking to GB News, ex-Conservative special adviser Charlie Rowley said the potential hikes in the Chancellor's upcoming Budget will "shortchange" taxpayers.

The Chancellor has admitted she is looking at potential tax rises and spending cuts to fill a black hole in her Budget, which she claims is partly due to the lingering impact of Brexit.

Ms Reeves said "of course, we’re looking at tax and spending" as she prepares for her November 26 statement.

Discussing the upcoming Budget, Mr Rowley told GB News: "If this China story wasn't so dominating, then this story would have grabbed all of the headlines.

"Because the Chancellor slipped out on a trip to Washington that she was going to make the numbers add up, and that was either through tax rises and and some spending cuts."

Highlighting last year's Budget pledge by Ms Reeves for a "once in a generation" tax rise, he added: "The Budget last year, she said she wasn't going to come back and ask for more taxes.

"And now you fast forward 12 months, she's coming back to us with more taxes potentially."

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Outlining why the Chancellor may be forced to impose more tax rises, the ex-adviser explained: "Growth has been downgraded, and people have left who could be wealth creators and generators.

"The Government couldn't get its own welfare reforms through, that would have saved them five billion, when she wanted to try and save a few pennies only a couple of months ago."

Criticising the possible move by Ms Reeves, he stated: "And the audacity that we read in the papers is that they're going to try and pin all of this on Nigel Farage and voting for Brexit, well, we've had Covid since then, the global economy was shut down.

"You've got to pick your lane. You can't on the one hand try and talk up the economy and say, 'well, we're the second fastest growing in the G7, and we're doing trade deals with India and with the US and how great that is, things that we wouldn't be able to do outside of the EU', all the while saying, 'oh, it's all Nigel's fault, and anyone that voted Brexit you ought to blame'.

"I mean, the Government haven't got, again, a clear position on what it is that they're trying to articulate."

Stressing the impact of the planned hikes on Britons, Mr Rowley concluded: "I think this will go down, newsflash, very, very badly, because people are feeling the pinch enough.

"Inflation is high, energy bills are up, there is no growth in the economy. Taxes are up on working people, something that they said they weren't going to do, and it seems to me there's a lot of economists saying that she's going to have to do the Chancellor row back on one of her election pledges, which is not to raise National Insurance, VAT or income tax.

"She's already raised National Insurance contributions. But as a headline announcement, people will feel shortchanged by that. Is she now going to raise income tax? Let's wait and see.

"It's not beyond the realms of possibility because she's put herself into a corner, there isn't that fiscal headroom. The money needs to come from somewhere."