Reeves has this week hired two new researchers to her Council of Economic Advisers “to advise on a range of issues in support of the government’s growth mission and delivering the Plan for Change.” Can you guess what’s coming next…
David Sturrock, associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and Emily Fry of the Resolution Foundation have joined the advisory panel with a month to go until Reeves presents her budget. They have in the last two years proposed between them a toxic cockatil of tax increases:
Fry:
Sturrock:
The Treasury’s press release praises the “extensive expertise” of Reeves’ new idea people. Gulp…
Green Deputy Leader Rachel Millward said:
“The reality is that it’s Zack Polanski who brought the nation, Andy Burnham. And if we hadn’t had the success of the Green Party in this last year since Zack’s been leading, which has been unprecedented, phenomenal success and a growth from about 60,000 members to 230,000, if we hadn’t had that much pressure on Labour, then we’d probably still be in the Starmer regime, which was pretty much ushering in a Reform government with its lurch to the right. So actually, what we’re seeing now is that we’ve set the political agenda and the government is picking that up.”