Wes Streeting has failed to rule out an overhaul of the council tax system if Labour win next month’s election, as the shadow health secretary said the party wanted to do more in power than it had promised in its manifesto.
Streeting told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg none of his party’s manifesto pledges required a rise in council tax. But pushed by the presenter to rule out the country’s first revaluation since 1991, he refused to do so.
Streeting told Kuenssberg: “We don’t want to see the tax burden on working people increase … What Rachel Reeves [the shadow chancellor] is going to work to do is to get growth back into our economy so we can invest in our public services and ease the tax burden on working people.”
Asked specifically whether he would rule out either allowing a rise in council tax or a revaluation of property bands, he added: “Every promise in our manifesto is a promise we can keep and the country can afford. None of those pledges in our manifesto requires increases in council tax, increases in fuel duty or any of the other taxes which the Conservatives are claiming we want to increase.”
Labour has promised not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT during the election campaign. However, with economists warning of a black hole in the public finances after the election, the party has come under pressure to say whether it would cut public services or increase other taxes to cover it.
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has failed repeatedly to rule out either increasing capital gains tax or allowing councils to increase council tax. Under current law, any local authority wanting to raise council tax by 5% or more has to hold a referendum first.
High-profile Labour figures, including Reeves, have called in the past for a council tax revaluation, given that current rates are based on house prices from 1991. Labour in Wales has promised to introduce new council tax bands, though the party recently pushed those plans back to 2028.
Higher council tax could be used to help fund social care, with Labour pledging to stick to plans to cap the amount of money people have to pay for their personal care over their lifetime.
Under current plans, people will no longer have to pay more than £86,000 on their personal care – which includes daily activities such as washing and dressing, but not housing or food costs – from October 2025 onwards.
Streeting said on Sunday that Labour would stick to those plans, and he added that the party would look to go further than it has promised in its manifesto if it was able to afford to do so.
Asked by Sky News’ Trevor Phillips whether the party could spend more on the NHS than laid out in its manifesto, Streeting said: “If the conditions allow, but only if the conditions allow. We will not make promises we cannot keep or that the country cannot afford.”
