Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned that any tax hikes must soon be rescinded if she breaks a key Labour manifesto promise and further increases the tax burden on Britons.

On Tuesday, Ms Reeves opened the door to potential tax rises in a speech where she pledged to make “the choices necessary to deliver strong foundations for the economy” in response to an environment that had “thrown more challenges our way”.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) said: “If the Chancellor opts for a larger revenue-raising step – particularly a manifesto-breaching increase in income tax or value-added tax (VAT) – she should make clear that it is temporary and conditional: a short-term measure to stabilise the public finances, not a permanent shift in direction.”

In their advice, the think tank told Ms Reeves that she must pair any tax rises must be linked with growth-promoting, pro-business reforms.

They then suggest the Chancellor should switch to “targeted tax cuts” ahead of the next election, “once growth strengthens and public service reforms deliver results”.

The institute also suggests reforms to immigration could risk damaging the UK’s flexible jobs market, urging ministers to keep the five-year route to permanent settlement for the skilled worker visa.

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David Lammy ‘outraged and appalled’ over second foreign criminal mistakenly released 

Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has said he was “absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police”.

He confirmed that “officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison”.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that police have launched a manhunt after a 24-year-old Algerian national was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on October 29.

The prisoner’s mistaken release came just five days after Hadush Kebatu was wrongfully freed from HMP Chelmsford, sparking a two-day manhunt.

GB News has learned from the Ministry of Justice that Mr Lammy had been informed about the serious error overnight.

Sources have suggested he had avoided sharing details as information was still emerging about the “complicated” case involving multiple agencies.

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