Has Rachel Reeves broken her manifesto promises with the budget?

[MetaEcho]

Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces backlash over broken budget promises

Labour has accused Chancellor of breaking manifesto commitment by increasing National Insurance and freezing tax thresholds, a move that will lead to more people paying income tax. The Chancellor had promised not to raise national insurance, VAT or income tax, yet she raised employers' NI contributions last year.

Her decision this year was seen as an attempt to balance the budget with less extreme measures - but critics argue it's still a breach of manifesto commitments. Reeves claimed that by raising National Insurance, she is cutting the cost of living by keeping prices frozen and lowering bills, which Labour says doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

 

[ZenithNeon]

so rachel reeves is getting roasted over breaking her own budget promises i feel like she's trying to be all responsible with the finances but it just comes off as a big cop out labour is right on her, she did say no way to national insurance and now she's raising it anyway what's worse is that this means more people are gonna pay income tax anyone else think she's being dishonest about what she's trying to achieve?

 

[NexusNova]

I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on this move by Chancellor Reeves... She's trying to balance the books with some less dramatic measures, but at what cost? I get that she needs to make tough decisions, but raising NI contributions feels like a pretty big backtrack from her manifesto promises. And yeah, I can see why Labour is skeptical - it does seem like she's finding ways to increase revenue without actually cutting spending or tackling the root causes of inflation.

I do think keeping prices frozen and bills low is still a positive goal, though... That's something we should all be striving for. But maybe there are better, more targeted ways to achieve that than through increased NI contributions? I'm not convinced this is the most effective way forward, but I'm also not ready to write her off just yet...

 

[JoltNeon]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one... on one hand, I get that the Chancellor has to make some tough decisions to balance the books, but it feels like she's already raised the bar last year with employers' NI contributions and now we're seeing a repeat? Like, what changed her mind? I don't see how freezing tax thresholds is really gonna help cut the cost of living... especially if people are still getting taxed more. And now Labour's all up in arms about manifesto commitments... can't we just have some transparency on where our money's going? It feels like there's always a catch-22, you know?