Photo via The Guardian

Tories challenge chancellor to rule out tax cuts in budget – UK politics live

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Sparrow, A. (2026, September 17). Tories challenge chancellor to rule out tax cuts in budget – UK politics live. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/sep/17/conservatives-badenoch-griffiths-healey-burnham-tax-rises-budget-economy-bank-of-england-latest-uk-politics-news-updates

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-09-17 · by Andrew Sparrow

Quick Summary

Andrew Griffith, the new shadow chancellor appointed by the Tories, delivered his first major speech urging Chancellor John Healey to rule out tax increases in the upcoming budget to prevent high-income taxpayers from leaving the country and small businesses from fearing economic instability. Griffith also announced plans for a report on reducing red tape for businesses, aiming to position the current Labour government as another "traditional tax and spend socialist" administration. Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch criticized the appointment of Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, as a non-executive director at the Bank of England, an action that has occurred under various governments for decades.
Written by AI on 2026-09-17, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Andrew Griffith, the UK's Shadow Chancellor, has urged John Healey, the current chancellor, to rule out tax increases in the upcoming Budget on October 28th. Official figures show that inflation rose to 3.1% last month, with economists expecting the Bank of England to maintain interest rates at 3.75%. Griffith warned that fears and actual hikes in taxes are causing significant taxpayers to leave the UK, potentially costing hundreds of millions in tax revenues. Critics such as former Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean suggest financial markets doubt the government's ability to make necessary fiscal decisions for sustainability. Former chief economist Andy Haldane added skepticism, referring to the Labour government as traditional "tax and spend" with better social media presence.

Written for “Budget Tax Debate” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Budget Tax Debate
Economy/Business · 3 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 4% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
Hedges 3 of 18 claims Outlet record 65/100
The Guardian
Hedges 1 of 25 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different topics related to politics and economics but do not describe the same specific incident.”
Daily Mail
Hedges 3 of 20 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles discuss different topics within Tory politics, one focusing on Kemi Badenoch's plans to scrap inheritance tax and the other on Andrew Griffith challenging the chancellor about tax cuts.”
Evening Standard
Hedges 5 of 13 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles discuss different aspects related to the budget and economic situation but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
Daily Mail
Hedges 2 of 28 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles discuss different calls for ruling out tax rises by Andy Burnham and Andrew Griffith, but they do not describe the same specific incident or time. They cover related political activities around the upcoming budget.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 2 of 27 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A discusses a meeting between John Healey and Labour's union paymasters regarding tax demands, while Article B reports on Andrew Griffith urging the chancellor to rule out tax rises. These are different events involving different parties and actions.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
27
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
4%
1 of 27 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Economy/Business
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-17 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2795 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Andrew Sparrow
24 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The prime minister said he hoped to have all four UK nations moving at the same pace on devolution, particularly on efforts outlined in Wednesday’s budget to give mayors in England more powers over tax revenues.
🔮 Burnham admits he would have liked more radical first budget Andy Burnham has admitted his first budget as prime minister was not as radical as he would have liked because of the economic uncertainty facing the country, Kiran Stacey reports.
🔮 As Rowena Mason reports, one of the top lines was Healey saying he would cut welfare spending before the election.
🔮 He said he asked the chancellor if there would be a support scheme to help people with energy bills from January, when costs are set to rise sharply.
🔮 A week today John Healey, the chancellor, will be doing a media round defending the budget he is presenting on Wednesday next week.
🔮 And if you want to all the technical documents relating to the decision, you will find them here.
🔮 John Healey, the chancellor, is delivering his first budget a week tomorrow, and this morning there are two news developments that will help to frame the way it is received.
🔮 I will publish fuller tables shortly.
🔮 Andy Burnham is taking PMQs this afternoon, but he will regard his most important engagement as the meeting he has with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, later in No 10.
🔮 Today we are getting another post-recess, potentially wide-ranging statement from the PM, but the mood might not be so cordial.
Also by Andrew Sparrow
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 24 articles by Andrew Sparrow →

Topics

Bank TUC The Bank of England Tory Westminster

Subjects

Bank ORG · 3× TUC ORG · 3× The Bank of England ORG · 3× Tory NORP · 3× Andrew Griffith PERSON · 2× Griffith PERSON · 2× Nowak PERSON · 2× Graeme Wearden PERSON · 1× John Healey PERSON · 1× Westminster GPE · 1×

Narrative

The speech will focus on small businesses, and Griffith will announce that he has appointed two advisers – the Tory peer and former MP Craig Mackinlay, a chartered accountant, and Robert Colvile, the outgoing head of the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank – to produce a report for him on cutting red tape for business.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-17
🔮 The Bank of England is announcing its latest interest rate decision later – Graeme Wearden will have all the details on his business live blog – and Andrew Griffith is giving his first major speech since being appointed as shadow chancellor just over two weeks ago.

Claims (27 extracted, 1 hedged)

With less than six weeks so go until the budget, economics is rising up the agenda at Westminster. asserted
economics → go → Westminster
The Bank of England is announcing its latest interest rate decision later – Graeme Wearden will have all the details on his business live blog – and Andrew Griffith is giving his first major speech since being appointed as shadow chancellor just over two weeks ago. asserted
Griffith → announce → chancellor
Not surprisingly, Griffith is urging the chancellor, John Healey, to rule out tax rises in the budget. asserted
Griffith → urge → budget
He has been doing interviews this morning and he told BBC Breakfast: The taxes or the fear of taxes … are driving really big taxpayers to leave our country for overseas, taking hundreds of millions of pounds of tax revenues that will pay for public services … asserted
that → do → services
The thing that they (the government) could do right now is take off the table the fears of ordinary small businesses, the self-employed, who are getting up now, going to work, and allow them to get on with their lives with confidence that the taxes are not going to go up. uncertain
taxes → do → confidence
The speech will focus on small businesses, and Griffith will announce that he has appointed two advisers – the Tory peer and former MP Craig Mackinlay, a chartered accountant, and Robert Colvile, the outgoing head of the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank – to produce a report for him on cutting red tape for business. asserted
he → focus → business
The Tories are keen to present Burnham’s administration as what Andy Haldane would call just another “traditional tax and spend socialist government” and yesterday Kemi Badenoch leapt on what she thought was new evidence to confirm this theory. asserted
she → present → theory
She posted this on social media. asserted
She → post → media
Only one party has ever rescued the country from trade union control. asserted
party → rescue → control
We’re ready to do so again. asserted
We → ’re → ?
If you weren’t sure what kind of Labour government we have, or want to know what’s in store for you and your family finances, the news below is a big clue and it’s not good news 👇 asserted
it → have → you
She was responding to a tweet from the Sun saying Paul Nowak has been made a director at the Bank of England. asserted
Nowak → respond → England
It was true; he has. asserted
he → have → ?
There are up to 14 directors on the Bank’s court of directors and Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, has been appointed as one of its non-executive directors. asserted
Nowak → be → directors
The court is not the body that sets interest rates; it just oversees the Bank’s administration. asserted
it → set → administration
Nowak is replacing Frances O’Grady, who was also TUC general secretary. asserted
who → replace → O’Grady
She was made a non-executive director at the Bank under a Tory government. asserted
She → make → government
In fact, this has been happening for decades. asserted
this → happen → decades
Rupert Harrison, who was chief of staff to George Osborne when he was chancellor, took to X yesterday to suggest to his Tory colleagues that they keep things in perspective. asserted
they → take → perspective
Got no take on this particular candidate but worth noting that it’s been a tradition to have a trade union representative on the Court of the Bank for decades. asserted
it → get → decades
Since the War I think. asserted
I → think → War
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes figures on local government spending. asserted
Ministry → publish → spending
Andrew Griffith, the shadow chancellor, delivers his speech. asserted
Griffith → deliver → speech
The Bank of England announces its interest rate decision. asserted
Bank → announce → decision
I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog. asserted
comments → ’m → blog
If you want to contact me, please email politics.live@theguardian.com. asserted
you → want → politics.live@theguardian.com
You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints. asserted
You → use → questions
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support