The Chancellor, John Healey, has told the Commons that employers are working people. That puts him at odds with his own Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds.
According to City AM, the former Conservative minister Esther McVey asked him whether employers are working people. He replied:
"Of course they are."
On Sunday 1 November, Ms Reynolds said in a broadcast interview that she did not think employers were working people because "they are companies". The remark opened a row over Labour's manifesto pledge not to raise taxes on working people.
City AM reports that Mr Healey also said he had protected income that is earned in his Budget, including by preventing a further tax increase on dividends, and rejected broad-based tax rises. He called it a "breathing space Budget" with "fully funded policies", the paper says.
City AM contrasts this with the first fiscal statement of the then Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, which raised employers' National Insurance by £25bn.