Rachel Reeves EXPOSED: How Chancellor told Chris Hope she would not 'put pensioner finances in peril'
In an interview ahead of the General Election with GB News the now Chancellor said she would not "introduce wealth taxes"
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An unearthed clip of Rachel Reeves shows the Chancellor telling GB News' Political Editor Chris Hope that she would "not put pensioners' finances in peril."
In an interview before the general election, Reeves claimed she would never "play fast and loose with the public finances" because when you do, you put the finances of pensioners and families in peril.
However, since Labour came into power in July, the Chancellor announced an immediate attack on pensioners by saying the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners would be means-tested from now on.
In contrast, speaking to Chris Hope before the election, Reeves said: "What people should know about me is that everything that I put forward be fully costed and fully funded, because I will never play fast and loose with the public finances, because when you do so, you put family finances and pensioners finances in peril."
WATCH: Rachel Reeves tells Chris Hope she won't 'put pensioners finances in peril'
She continued: "Well, the reason that pensioners are paying more tax today is because of decisions by this Conservative prime minister and this Conservative government."
At another point in the interview, Chris Hope questioned if the Labour government would increase income tax and national insurance.
Reeves replied: "So I want taxes on working people to be lower, but I'm not going to make commitments without saying where the money is going to come from. But I can make the commitment that income tax and National Insurance won't go up under a Labour government."
She added that they had also made the decision to "freeze corporation tax at its current rate," but warned "if there is any threat to our competitiveness by other countries reducing their corporation tax, of course we would always look to act."
Reeves also insisted twice in the interview Labour would "not be introducing wealth taxes," explaining Labour "set forward our plans and they are all fully costed and fully funded, and there will be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation."
However, since coming into government, the Labour Party announced what they described as a "£22 billion black hole” in public finances left by the previous government meaning there would have to be increased taxes in the October budget.
During a News Agents podcast, Reeves said she would not raise VAT, national insurance or income tax, but she did not rule out a range of other possibilities like increasing inheritance tax, capital gains tax, or reforming tax relief on pensions.
To raise these taxes, the Labour Government could limit pension tax relief and inheritance tax relief, increase the capital gains tax, increase the “annual tax on enveloped dwellings” (ATED), or increase inheritance tax on trusts to fill this "black hole."