I tend to make a time for Pebog TV and radio. Chancellor, we've heard you say already that the public finances in a pretty precarious presition. So I want to ask you. Many Labor MPs really want you to lift the two child benefit caps. And we hear that in que the Prime Minister, and we afford to do that.
Well, no one needs to tell me how important child poverty is. I came into the Labor Party because I've wanted children from all backgrounds to have a good start in life, and we've already made strides in reducing child poverty in this parliament. We're rolling out free breakfast clubs are all primary schools, extending free school meals to an additional five hundred thousand children with kept the cost of school uniform. We've increase the national living wage and the
national minimum wage. I would I like to do more, yes, but of course we haven't always got to explain how policies will be paid for. We've got the report from the Child Poverty Task Force later this year and we'll respond to that. But it is important for all families that the the numbers add up, and that's always what I've done as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
And that's been a really strong message from you throughout. Does your party, though, understand how important it is to make the numbers out of stand on the right side of the bond market.
We campaigned the election on economic stability fiscal responsibility, and we did that for a reason because it was ordinary working people and businesses who paid the price for the economic mismanagement in the last parliament, when interest rates went through the roof, when inflation got out of control, when pensions are put in peril. And because of that and my party, the Labor Party, accepted the crucial importance of
economic discipline to support working families. It's not intention economic responsibility, so our commitments to make people better off it is part of that commitment. Because there's five cuts and interest rates as you know by the Bank of England, but they've only been possible because of that stability We returned to the economy.
Look on winter fuel payments, on pay rises for doctors, on welfare reform. You've seemed to give, but when are you going to take away? When are you going to choose the bond market over the left of your party?
Well, if you look today at my conference speech. I'll be setting out a youth guarantee because at the moment we've got a million young people who are not in education, employment or training. That's one in eight young people. I'm not going to let that stand. It is a waste of their talent and potential. But it's also a huge waste for business and a huge way for taxpayers that we are subsidizing young people to be out of work when we want them to be in training or in
paid employment. And that's one example of how we're reforming the welfare state to get the costs down and at the same time are bringing more people into work.
What would you do about it if someone said they don't want to work in the hair hope, well, that's not acceptable.
You know, like welfare is not an alternative to work. The welfare state is there if you need it. You can't say to actually, I'd rather remain on benefits than take that job opportunity. And that's a really important part of what I'm setting out today, built on what the previous labor government did under Tony Blair with the New Deal for Young People that said there was not an option just to stay on benefits, and that's the same with me as Chancellor.
Okay, look, I don't expect you to pre empty budget with me, Chancellor, but you did promise business that there'd be no more borrowing and no more tax rises. Is that still true?
Well, what I did last year at the budget was draw a line under the economic and fiscal mismanagement of the previous government, and that did require difficult decisions on taxes, so.
There won't be more of them.
Well, I think all of your viewers can see that the last year has bought his fair share of global challenges, the global cost of borrowing, the tariffs from the United States, the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the disruptions to
supply chains, and Russia's intensified aggression. I'm Chanceller in the world as it is, not as the world as I might worship to be, and I had to respond to those But those fiscal rules that we set out in the election, to pay for day to day spending through tax receipts, to get deck down as a share of GDP, to get the deficit down this year, those commitments stand.
And I'm also determined to bring down inflation further because I recognize that inflation at three point eight percent is still too high, so that is a global challenge as well. But as we get that.
Down, those commitments stand. You see, the manifesto stands. In the manifesto, you said will not increase national insurance, the basic higher or additional rates of income tax or V eight Yes or no? Does that still hold?
Yes? It does. And we also made that commitment around corporation tax as well. And those commitments are spanned and they stand for a reason because working people paid a heavy price in the last parliament. It was the worst parliament on record for living standards. It's still the biggest
challenge for working people. So those commitments stand. But what I want your viewers to know that my commitments to economic stability, to fiscal responsibility and to those fiscal rules they absolutely stand because they are the bedrof of stability and only with stability can we grow the economy.
So we need to know where you're going to The money from the French are in a similar fiscal fine, they're similar seemingly on the brink of a wealth tax. Is it time for a mansion tax? You're in the UK.
But I would like to differentiate ourselves from what's happening in other countries around the world are here, yes, but they have struggle to get a budget through, and we successfully got the budget through last year and the spending reviewer. Many people said that wouldn't be possible because we had to make difficult decisions. But I'm up for difficult decisions when they are in the national interest and I will continue to take them. We already taxed wealth in Britain
with capital gains tax, with inheritance tax. The budget last year. As you know, we got rid of the non domicile status in the tax system. We put VAT on the school fees, we increase taxes on private jets. We already have taxes on wealthy people in Britain. I don't think we need to stand alone with wealth tax, and in fact, countries that do have that don't have those other taxes. I'm not even sure it would work.
Okay, And there's been growing concerned in the city as well that you could target the banking sector for high attack.
I think we probably shouldn't go through every single it's possible, what's your message to the site. I think that from both of my Mansion House speeches, the city know how much I value the contribution that they make both through direct employment and investment, but also supporting the wider economy
with an efficient allocation of capital. And the regulatory reforms that I bought in at Chancellor are all about promoting growth and job creation and businesses coming to Britain in financial services.
Chancellor, you've also already said that you would be open to just having one OBR forecast per year. You accused Liz Trust right here on Boomberg TV of sidelining the OBR. How is this different?
Well, the International Monetary Fund have said that there should be one physical event a year, and I committed to that in the manifesto and have done since. I think that their recommendation is a sensible one. That will have to mean changes in the second forecast, but that's not about reducing transparency. That is about better economics policymaking, so we're not having to change policy and giving that uncertainty every six months for businesses.
Just finally, how much worse the polls need to get for you to accept that we need to replace Kissed Armer.
But Kirs Starmer got elected with a massive mandate last year. If someone has said fifteen months ago that we would be the fastest growing economy in the G seven. We'd have five cuts in interest rates, we had done trade deals with the US, India and the EU. The wages would have risen faster in the first ten months as this labor government than the first year ten years of the previous conservative government. I think most people have said,
I don't think so, Rachel. We've achieved those things with Kira as Prime Minister, and we'll get on and continue the job.