Tax pledges and Reform row dominate PMQs | JQJO

At PMQs, the economy dominated ahead of next month’s Budget. Kemi Badenoch pressed Keir Starmer on Labour’s pledge not to raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT and on opposing the Conservatives’ move to scrap stamp duty; Starmer shot back that the Tories failed to abolish it in 14 years and said austerity and Brexit harmed growth as the OBR revises productivity forecasts. Badenoch branded him tax-obsessed and “too weak.” Ed Davey urged a probe into Russian meddling; Starmer called Reform UK “Putin friendly,” which Richard Tice dismissed as “absolute rubbish.”