Balls confirms – there will be no VAT rise under Labour

UPDATE: VAT announcement comes with a surprise new poster:

Ed Balls has spent most of the past four years beating the coalition around the head for increasing VAT (after saying they wouldn’t), so perhaps unsurprisingly, Balls is ruling out Labour raising VAT. In a speech in Birmingham on Tuesday, the Shadow Chancellor will unveil the promise as a new manifesto commitment, saying:

“The next Labour government will not raise VAT. We will not put up VAT. And we will not extend it to food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares. We will not raise VAT because it’s the tax that hits everyone. It’s the tax that hits you every day. And it hits pensioners and the poorest hardest.”

Yesterday Ed Miliband confirmed that Ed Balls will be Labour’s Chancellor if the party takes power in May.