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UK General Election 2015: Labour to pledge not to increase VAT, UK General Election 2015, UK Election 2015, UK News

Details: Last Updated: Friday, 17 April 2015 18:37

UK General Election 2015: Labour to pledge not to increase VAT

Labour's general election manifesto will contain a pledge not to raise VAT, shadow chancellor Ed Balls will say. The party will make a "clear pledge" not to increase the tax, which it says "hits pensioners and the poorest hardest", if it wins the election.

Labour has repeatedly claimed the Conservatives would have to increase VAT due to the scale of spending cuts planned for after the general election. The Tories said Labour planned "hikes" in income tax or national insurance.

The Liberal Democrats say their deficit reduction plans would not require an increase in VAT, with planned tax rises focused on the wealthy.

'Everyone hit'

VAT, which is levied on most business transactions and many goods and services, was increased from 17.5% to 20% in Chancellor George Osborne's first Budget in 2010. In a speech in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mr Balls will say: "The next Labour government will not raise VAT.

"We will not put up VAT. And we will not extend it to food, children's clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares. "We will not raise VAT because it's the tax that hits everyone. It's the tax that hits you every day. And it hits pensioners and the poorest hardest." Labour's announcement was "fully funded and paid for", he said.

VAT is a key part of Labour's economic attacks on the Conservatives. Responding to last week's Budget, opposition leader Ed Miliband claimed the Conservatives would be forced to increase the tax because they would not be able to deliver their planned "colossal cuts" to unprotected areas of public spending. A Conservative spokesman said Labour had "let the cat out of the bag". He added: "Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have repeatedly said they will raise taxes. "It is time that they came clean with the British public about which taxes they will raise - income tax or national insurance."