Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Griffiths warns against raising taxes further, stating it would worsen an already difficult economic situation. He cites the departure of high-net-worth individuals, like hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos, who is moving to Greece and paid £330 million in tax last year, as evidence that stringent tax policies are driving away major taxpayers. Griffiths also calls for reducing tax compliance red tape to ease burdens on small businesses and self-employed people, arguing it would boost confidence and economic recovery.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.65, but 2 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 15458: no verified evidence · logged 2026-09-17
Later on Thursday, he will say Chancellor John Healey cannot afford to raise taxes at the Budget following similar moves by his predecessor Rachel Reeves, and will urge the Government to slash tax compliance red tape to help small businesses and self-employed people.
asserted
Healey → say → businesses
Mr Griffith told the BBC: “This is not a moment to put up taxes, we’ve had two budgets that have put up taxes to the highest ever recorded level, let’s just take that off the table.”
asserted
’s → tell → table
Taxes and 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”, he also warned.
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he → drive → services
Asked how many of those highest taxpayers have left the UK, he said: “Well, one of the tragic things is the Government seems entirely passive and neutral on this, so I’ve asked many times the Treasury what numbers have they got, how many people have left – we’ve certainly seen numbers in the public domain that say it’s tens of thousands.”
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it → ask → domain
The shadow chancellor cited hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos’s departure, but did not offer any other specific evidence for the “tens of thousands” claim.
uncertain
chancellor → cite → claim
Mr Rokos is set to leave for Greece, it was reported earlier this month.
asserted
it → set → Greece
Mr Griffith told the programme: “The ones that left very recently (Mr Rokos), reported in all the papers, paid tax of £330 million last year – now that’s an insane amount of tax, but how are you going to replace that?
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you → tell → that
That would take about 38,000 ordinary people’s tax to replace that, that’s not going to happen.”
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that → take → that
It was put to him that “you don’t have any evidence they’re leaving, is that right?”, and Mr Griffiths responded: “That’s in public sight, I mean, that’s been reported, including on the BBC, I don’t talk about individuals’ tax affairs, but that story about Chris Rokos – who runs a very successful finance business here – has been reported on the BBC and other places, so, you know, people will take their own view on that, but it is by all accounts tens of thousands, it could be more.”
uncertain
it → put → thousands
He said: “We’ve had two budgets under previous Labour administrations now that have raised the burden of tax to its all-time recorded high, they were based on a lot of extra public spending that has itself caused all those difficulties you heard about in the economy.
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you → say → economy
“It’s a difficult time in the wider world but the Government shouldn’t be making it any worse.
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it → ’ → world
“The thing that they 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
It was put to him that the last Conservative government “handed over the highest tax burden in 70 years”, and he responded “obviously the Covid pandemic was the big factor” and the tax burden was falling before that.
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burden → put → that
During his speech, Mr Griffith will announce he has commissioned a taskforce to investigate how to reform the tax compliance system, with a view to reduce the burden faced by small businesses.
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he → announce → businesses
It will be led by Tory peer Lord Mackinlay of Richborough, the former South Thanet MP, and Robert Colvile, the outgoing director of the Centre for Policy Studies think tank.
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It → lead → tank
Small businesses face a combined cost of £25 billion a year because of tax compliance, and business owners spend 44 hours a year on tax paperwork, the Federation of Small Businesses has previously estimated.
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Federation → face → Businesses
A Labour spokesperson said on Wednesday: “We won’t take any lectures from the Tories on the economy – not least when it was only last week that Andrew Griffith was praising the ‘lots of good things’ in Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.
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Griffith → say → budget
“The Chancellor is fully focused on his priorities: giving families and businesses breathing space, backing British jobs, and driving growth in every postcode, underpinned by a commitment to meet the fiscal rules.”
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Chancellor → give → rules
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