Budget 2024: Do Tory claims of Labour's 'broken promises' stack up?

Opposition leader Rishi Sunak has accused the Labour government of delivering a Budget containing “broken promise after broken promise”, adding: “Working people will pay the price.”

In his response to the Budget speech, the outgoing Conservative leader claimed Chancellor Rachel Reeves had decided to “let borrowing rip” and tried to “cover up that splurge by fiddling the fiscal rules”.

Sunak added that “never in the history of our country will taxes be higher than they are under this Labour Government”.

He also accused Reeves and his successor as prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, of “damaging the British economy for political purposes” by their rhetoric and claimed it was “nonsense” to suggest Labour had inherited difficult circumstances.

Reeves said she was taking steps to address the “black hole” in the public finances left by the Tories while pumping billions into schools and hospitals.

Here, ITV News compares the measures laid out in the Budget in comparison to the Labour manifesto to explore whether Sunak's claims stack up.

'Working people will pay the price'

Following the Budget, Sunak said: “They said they wouldn’t raise taxes on working people, they have. Broken promise after broken promise and it is the working people of this country that will pay the price.”

Ahead of the General Election earlier this year, Labour laid out it's manifesto, assured it would protect working people.

It said: “We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance (NI), the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.”

In the months that followed the Labour win, speculation swirled surrounding the ambiguity of the wording and whether the pledge applied to both employee and employer NI contributions.

The Budget includes an increase in employers’ NIC by 1.2 percentage points from April 2025, with Reeves saying it is “the right choice to make”.

She added: “And we will reduce the secondary threshold - the level at which employers start paying national insurance on each employee’s salary - from £9,100 per year to £5,000. This will raise £25 billion per year by the end of the forecast period.“I know that this is a difficult choice. I do not take this decision lightly.”

While employees have not been directly targeted, workers could face pay cuts if companies try to keep their staffing costs fixed.

Separately, the Budget promised that the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour next year after the Chancellor confirmed a 6.7% increase.

Reeves described the move as a “significant step” towards delivering on Labour’s manifesto promise to introduce a “genuine living wage for working people”.

The increase, recommended by the Low Pay Commission, will mean an extra £1,400 a year for a full-time worker earning the main minimum wage rate, known as the national living wage, from April 2025.

But it still falls short of the £12.60 per hour UK living wage calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.

The Chancellor also announced that the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 would rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.

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'Tidal wave of anti-business' measures

Sunak hit out at the Budget's plans, describing them as a "tidal wave of anti-business" measures, as well as "higher taxes, higher borrowing, no plan for growth, and working people paying the price"

Labour promised in it's manifesto to be "pro-business and pro-worker”, describing itself as, “the party of wealth creation”.

In addition to the hikes to employer NIC, the Budget also set out rises to capital gains tax (CGT), and a VAT application to private school fees, which Reeves said will help fund major cash injections for the NHS, education, housing and transport.

However, in a bid to protect small businesses, she announced employment allowance will rise from £5,000 to £10,500.

She also confirmed that the retail, hospitality and leisure industry will receive 40% relief on business rates from 2025/26.

'Britain's poorest pensioners squeezed'

Sunak also warned that Britain’s poorest pensioners have been “squeezed” in Reeves’ Budget.

He told the Commons: “Britain’s poorest pensioners squeezed, welfare spending out of control and a streak of tax rises they promised the working people of this country they would not do.

To shouts of “up” from his own benches, the former prime minister and chancellor said: “National insurance, up. Capital gains tax, up. Inheritance tax, up. Energy taxes, up. Business rates, up. First-time buyer stamp duty, up. Pensions tax, up. They have fiddled the figures.”

Labour’s manifesto previously pledged to reform workplace pensions to "deliver better outcomes" for retirees and savers.

In her Budget, Reeves reiterated the government’s commitment to the pension triple lock, telling the Commons the basic and new state pension will rise by 4.1% in 2025-26.

The increase will see the weekly benefit rise to £230.30 for the full new flat-rate state pension.

However, with income thresholds set to remain frozen, an individual receiving just the state pension will be taxed on their income from 2027.

The Chancellor told the Commons: “The pension credit standard minimum guarantee will also rise by 4.1%, from around £11,400 per year to around £11,850 for a single pensioner.”

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