Shadow Business Secretary Julia Lopez has warned that Wednesday's Budget will bring dozens of small tax rises, as Labour digs deeper into a fiscal hole. Writing for the Daily Express, Lopez argues that each rise is designed to slip through unnoticed, but together they add up to a squeeze from every possible direction.
Labour's Tax Instinct
Lopez, who spends most of her week talking to business owners, says the message she hears is always the same: they want to grow, take on more staff, and give a young graduate their first proper job. She claims Labour makes that harder, and next week's Budget will make it harder still.
She points to Labour's record under Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, and argues it will continue under Andy Burnham and John Healey. "It does not matter who is in Downing Street or who holds the red box - the instinct never changes."
The Squeeze on Small Firms
Lopez notes that Labour have boxed themselves into a corner, having promised not to raise taxes on working people, then raised them anyway. She predicts the Budget will not bring one big tax rise, but dozens of small ones, buried in consultations, technical notes, and small print.
Small firms, she says, often lack armies of lawyers or tax departments and are led by small teams working evenings and weekends. Every new form, deadline, and charge comes out of that person's time and margin.
Welfare and Red Tape
Labour need the money because they have dug themselves a hole, Lopez argues. The welfare bill keeps climbing, with more people signed off work. Instead of getting welfare under control, they go back to the people who work and the businesses that employ them.
On top of charges, Lopez cites Labour's Employment Rights Act, which she says makes it riskier and more expensive to take someone on. Business owners now think twice before hiring, and many are not hiring at all, hitting young people looking for first jobs.
The Conservative Alternative
Lopez outlines a different path: repealing job-destroying measures in the Employment Rights Act, halving employer National Insurance for under-25s, and getting the welfare bill under control. She concludes that John Healey has one chance next week to change course, but nothing Labour have done so far suggests he will.
