John Healey is all kind words, but watch his hands (Image: Getty)
Our new Chancellor has a nasty habit of offering warm words in public, before twisting the knife. He’s all kindness and comfort, then delivers maximum pain. Hypocrisy is an ugly word. Two-faced is worse. But I’m afraid both fit. Since Andy Burnham made him chancellor, Healey has pulled this trick at least three times. Heaven knows who he’ll turn on tomorrow, when he stands up to deliver his Budget.
Think Healey is a man of his word? Ask the army. As defence secretary, the military thought he had their back. They thought he was an honourable man. So when Healey resigned in June, accusing PM Keir Starmer of failing to commit the resources needed to defend the country, the nation thought it had witnessed that rare thing: a politician putting his principles above his career. How naive we were.
Healey resigned because Britain needed to hit defence spending of 3% of GDP by 2030. But now he’s running the Treasury, and suddenly it’s not so urgent. He certainly won’t set out his plans tomorow. Instead, the Government has idly pushed the roadmap into next year’s spending review. Which makes you wonder why he was in such a hurry before. And what he was saying to Andy Burnham behind the scenes. I bet Starmer wonders, too.
Starmer must also wonder why Andy Burnham handed Healey the best job in the cabinet. He must have been very grateful for that resignation. The banks were next to experience the chancellor’s double dealings.
On October 15, Healey was full of praise for one of our most crucial economic sectors. He told journalists that banks were “hardwired into the economic fabric of this country and our future prospects”. He also described them as part of the “jewel” in Britain’s economic crown. Bankers lapped it up.
So imagine their surprise when, later that same day, Treasury leaks suggested Healey is preparing to increase the windfall tax on bank profits. Which is the very last thing our economic jewel needs.
Banks already face a hefty tax burden, with the combined rate reaching 46.2% once the various levies are included. In the US, Wall Street rivals pay just 27.9%. How on earth are banks like Barclays supposed to compete with HMRC leeching them like that. And Healey wants more?
Slapping on still more tax risks hitting investment and lending, weakening growth and depriving Britain of the capital it desperately to get the economy growing.
Healey talks a good game on growth. But that’s just one face. He has another. If he says he’s on your side, heaven help you. Just ask the pubs.
I’m sure you remember Burnham and Healey showing off their blokey credentials by ranking pub snacks in a social media video. There were pints on the table, smiles all round then, back in August, Healey told ITV News: “We recognise the pressure that pubs and other businesses are on.”
So what do we get on the eve of the Budget? Reports that Healey plans to slap another 2p of duty on a pint, despite desperate pleas from the industry. This at a time when pubs are closing at a rate of one a day, amid rocketing costs, soaring business rates, Rachel Reeves’s tax rises and falling trade.
Healey publicly recognises the pressure they’re under, then turns the screw. His hypocrisy knows no bounds. Whole industries must be dreading hearing the chancellor’s soothing bedside manner, just before he reaches for his hatchet.
In the run up to the Budget, he’s been playing down suggestions of big tax hikes. Warm words once again. So what’s he really going to hit us with? We’ll find out tomorrow.
