Cathy Jamieson MP, Labour’s Shadow Treasury minister, commenting on Treasury analysis of the economic impact of tax changes, said:

“If the Treasury is looking at the economic impact of tax changes, then surely it should examine the impact of the rise in VAT and cuts to tax credits?

"George Osborne’s £12 billion VAT rise knocked confidence, helped to choke off the recovery and has cost families £1350 over the last three years. Yet while ordinary families are paying more in tax, this Chancellor’s priority for tax cuts has been the top one per cent of earners.

"Labour wants a fairer tax system in order to help working people facing a cost-of-living crisis and to balance the books more fairly.

"We want to introduce a lower 10p starting rate of tax to help make work pay for 24 million people on middle and lower incomes. And for the next Parliament we would reverse George Osborne’s £3 billion tax cut for people earning over £150,000 so we can get the deficit down in a fairer way.”