21 May 2025, 05:30 | Updated: 21 May 2025, 05:31
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Angela Rayner reportedly called on Rachel Reeves to reinstate the pensions lifetime allowance instead of cutting spending, a secret memo has revealed.
Ms Rayner reportedly made these suggestions in a memo to the Chancellor with ideas to raise revenue.
The Deputy Prime Minister sent the suggestions, in a document that estimated the changes could raise £3 billion to £4 billion a year, to Rachel Reeves in March ahead of the spring statement, The Telegraph reported.
The Chancellor has been adamant she will not turn to tax rises as part of the Government’s efforts to fund its policies.
There have been reports that Ms Rayner has been pushing back against spending cuts behind the scenes.
Ms Rayner’s suggestions, in a memo titled “alternative proposals for raising revenue”, reportedly included reinstating the lifetime pensions allowance, which limited how much savers could put put in their pension pot before incurring a higher tax charge and was abolished under the Tories.
Ending the inheritance tax relief on shares for the Alternative Investment Market, raising the bank surcharge to 5%, and freezing the additional rate income tax threshold above £125,140 so more people would be dragged into a higher band were also among the proposals.
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She also floated closing the commercial property stamp duty loophole and increasing the annual tax on enveloped dwellings, as well as raising rates on dividend taxes to bring them closer to income tax and removing the tax-free dividend allowance.
A Government source said it is normal practice for Cabinet colleagues to have such discussions and they should not be read as an endorsement of any particular idea or proposal.
A Government spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on leaks.”
