Rachel Reeves has pledged not to put up taxes for the rest of this parliament as she tried to curry favour with businesses furious over her Budget.
The chancellor announced that public services will need to “live within their means” between now and the next election, which is not expected until at least 2028.
In last month’s Budget, Reeves was putting taxes up by £40 billion last month, including a £25bn hike in the employers’ rate of National Insurance.
That has led to an angry backlash from companies and also farmers, many of whom will be hit by the introduction of inheritance tax on agricultural land.
Reeves has insisted that she had no choice but to put up taxes to fill a £22bn black hole in the public finances left by the Tories.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in London, she said: “We’ve put our public finances back on a firm footing, and we’ve now set the budgets for public services for the duration of this parliament.
“Public services now need to live within their means, because I’m really clear, I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes.
“That is why at this Budget we did wipe the slate clean to put public finances and public services on a firm footing, and as a result, we won’t have to do a Budget like this ever again.”
However, the chancellor mounted a strong defence of her Budget, insisting she had had “no alternative” but to take the decisions she did.
“If I hadn’t made those difficult decisions, then we wouldn’t have been able to bring the stability back to the economy that is desperately needed,” she said.
