24/03/2015

Labour To Pledge No VAT Increase

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has pledged to not raise VAT if Labour win the next general election.

Mr Balls said that Labour will make a "clear pledge" not to increase the tax, which it claims the Conservatives would "have to increase" due to the scale of spending cuts.

"The next Labour government will not raise VAT," Mr Balls said in a speech in Birmingham on Tuesday.

"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."

(MH/IT)

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