Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to George Osborne’s repeated refusal to rule out a VAT rise in the next Parliament at the Treasury Select Committee, said:

“George Osborne has let the cat out of the bag. He has repeatedly refused to rule out another VAT rise if the Tories win the election. Five times he was asked to make a cast iron guarantee and five times he failed to do so. It’s now clear that the Tories are planning to raise VAT again.

“We’ve all heard the same old empty words about not having any plans before. It’s what the Tories said before the last election – and then they raised it within weeks of polling day. And it’s the same words Tory Chancellors have used before elections for the last forty years.

“The next Labour government will not raise VAT. It’s an unfair tax which hits everybody and hits pensioners and the poorest hardest. And we can make this clear promise because all our pledges are fully funded, for example a mansion tax to save our National Health Service.

“But with their £10 billion of unfunded tax promises and extreme plans for deeper spending cuts after the election, everyone knows the Tories will end up raising VAT to make their sums add up.”