Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out scrapping the single-person council tax discount, saying decisions on the public finances had to be looked at “in the round”.
There has been mounting speculation the 25% tax break for people who live alone will be on the chopping block when Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her first budget on 30 October.
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If that is the case, it could further hit some pensioners living alone who have already suffered the loss of winter fuel payments.
Sir Keir said he was not going to “reveal what’s in the budget before we get to it” as he denied targeting elderly Britons with his plans to stabilise the economy.
Asked if scrapping the discount would be a “punishment beating” for pensioners, the prime minister said: “No, absolutely not.
“And let’s just try to quash this now. The budget is on October 30. So, between now and then, you are all going to ask me questions, as you did before the election, ‘will you rule out X, Y, Z?’
“And knowing that I’m not going to say before the budget what we’re going to do, you will then write a story saying, ‘refused to rule out X, Y, Z’.
“I’m not going to say before the budget what we’re going to do.”
Sir Keir said that does not mean “ruling in anything that you might be putting to me”.
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“it simply means, like every prime minister, we’re not going to reveal what’s in the budget before we get to it.”
However, when it was put to him Ms Reeves had ruled out other potential cash-saving options such as scrapping free bus passes, TV licences and prescriptions, he said: “We’ve got to look at everything in the round.”
Sir Keir was speaking from Washington DC, where he has arrived for talks with President Joe Biden at the White House over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
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His comments echo that of his deputy PM and housing secretary Angela Rayner, who earlier this month said there were “no plans” to raise council tax as a whole, but refused to guarantee maintaining the discount for single people.
The discount reduces bills by 25% for taxpayers who are the sole person over the age of 18 in their property, regardless of their financial circumstances, and is worth around £3bn a year.
The Local Government Association has argued cash-strapped authorities should be given the power to vary all council tax discounts, including the single person’s one.
Councils across the country are facing funding shortfalls and there are fears that could get worse as Ms Reeves mulls over measures to fill what she says is a £22bn “black hole” in the nation’s finances.
Having already removed the winter fuel allowance from around 10 million pensioners, she has signalled more spending cuts and tax rises are on the cards.