Wes Streeting skewered by Sky's Trevor Phillips over Labour tax raid plot

Wes Streeting has refused to rule out the freezing of income tax thresholds in Labour's upcoming Budget.

The Health Secretary was grilled on reports Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering continuing the freeze during an appearance on Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

Mr Streeting had previously voted against the measure in opposition while Rishi Sunak was prime minister.

He said: "I'm not going to speculate on what the Chancellor might do in the Budget.

"If you're asking me whether I would vote against anything in the Chancellor's Budget? The answer is no, of course I'm not going to do that."

He went on to say: "This country is paying a heavy price for Conservative failure, and we're going to have to make some big and difficult choices in this Budget to make sure we fix the foundations of the economy and we don't end up back here."

He later added: "What we're not going to do is duck the difficult decisions, have Government by gimmick, short-term sticking plasters, because that is exactly how we ended up in this situation."

It comes as the Chancellor is reportedly considering pushing the freeze on income tax thresholds, which pushes workers into higher brackets, beyond 2028.

Ms Reeves is looking to raise up to £40 billion mainly from tax hikes in the Budget on October 30.

Labour's manifesto promised not to increase rates of income tax, but included no mention of tax thresholds.

But Ms Reeves previously criticised the Tories for freezing income tax thresholds until 2028.

She said last November: "I think it is wrong that every time the Government wants to raise money, [the burden falls] on ordinary people.

"The Government is picking the pockets of ordinary working people. Pay that is supposed to help the rising cost of living, 40% of it is then gone in taxes."