A Treasury minister was left squirming amid claims Rachel Reeves is preparing to break a Labour manifesto pledge in the Budget.
James Murray repeatedly refused to rule out the chancellor putting up the amount of National Insurance (NI) paid by employers on October 30.
Before the election, Labour pledged not to increase NI, VAT and income tax.
On Sky News this morning, Kay Burley told Murray: “Your boss has given the biggest hint yet that employers are going to have to pay more National Insurance.
“I know you’re not going to tell me, but the suggestion is it’s a manifesto breach. If you do indeed raise National Insurance for employers, is that manifesto breach.”
The minister replied: “The manifesto was very clear that we would not raise taxes on working people, by which we meant National Insurance, income tax and VAT.”
But Burley hit back: “Are employers not working people too?”
Murray said: “Well the manifesto commitment, which is what we’re talking about, focused on working people ...”
The presenter then asked again: “Aren’t employers working people?”
As the minister said he would not speculate on what is going to be in the Budget, Burley asked a third time: “Do you not recognise employers as working people? Don’t tell my boss that.”
Murray said: “Working people are people who are paying National Insurance, paying income tax, and we want to make sure that we’re not increasing taxes on working people, and that’s our commitment.”
The presenter later asked the minister: “Would you be happy to break a manifesto pledge in order to benefit the economy?”
But he replied: “Well we think our manifesto supports economic growth, which is why it was centred around our top mission, which was to get the economy growing.”