Andy Burnham admits Britain can’t afford more damaging hikes in Budget and Labour must get ‘balance’ right

ANDY Burnham has signalled Britain can’t afford another tax-raising Budget. He said Labour has to be “conscious” of more damaging hikes and must get the “balance” right. It came after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said UK growth will slow next year. The PM was quizzed on whether the balance between taxing wealth and taxing income is right and whether it will be addressed at the October Budget. Burnham said: “We have two budgets in 2024 and 2025 and we have to be conscious of the extent to which we have raised revenue. And we have to make sure we get the balance right.” Ex-Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised taxes including a national insurance raid on employers and a three-year freeze on income tax thresholds. READ MORE ON ANDY BURNHAM Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report comes just weeks before Chancellor John Healey delivers his Budget where he may need to find £15 billion. Fresh forecasts show growth of just 1 per cent next year which is a slowdown from the 1.1 per cent predicted in June. But UK growth for this year has nudged up 0.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent. They are now expecting inflation to slow down to 2.6 per cent but this is higher than the 2.4 per cent predicted earlier in the summer. The Bank of England target is 2 per cent. Most read in The Sun They also say that the Bank of England may be forced to cut interest rates to boost growth. The OECD latest outlook pointed to “increasingly important risk” to the world economy if debt and deficit levels weren’t brought down. Separately, IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva said economic shocks had been “pushing debt levels up like a staircase not to heaven”. She added that governments had taken “no action to contain that service cost”. Treasury minister Emma Reynolds said: “Despite unprecedented pressures and conflict in both the Middle East and in Europe, the UK economy is showing strong resilience.” Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith said: “The OECD have downgraded the UK’s growth for 2027 to just a third of the average growth rate of the G20. “We can and should aspire to do much better.”