PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out breaking another promise by freezing income tax thresholds in next week’s Budget.

He ducked the question in the Commons as Chancellor Rachel Reeves puts the final touches on her make-or-break package with the government floundering.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir whether he stood by Ms Reeves pledge last year that she would not freeze the thresholds as it would break Labour’s manifesto promises on tax.

Freezing the thresholds at which people start paying a particular rate of tax creates what is termed “fiscal drag” as with accumulating inflation it draws more people into paying more tax.

Sir Keir insisted that it would be a “Labour Budget with Labour values” aimed at protecting the NHS and other public services.

And Ms Reeves amplified this, claiming her priorities “will be to tackle the cost of living, to get NHS waiting lists down and to reduce national debt, adding that “those are the priorities of the British people.”

While the Prime Minister ruled out any return to austerity, he said the government’s notorious “fiscal rules are iron-clad” and that “what we won’t do is inflict a borrowing spree like Liz Truss did.”

Left MP Jon Trickett urged him to go further, asking Sir Keir to “declare that it is the government’s moral purpose to eliminate economic injustice — starting, in the Budget next week, with an announcement of massive investment in the north, and wherever else poverty and low pay raise their heads,” he added.

Many Labour MPs are now despairing of the government’s prospects. However, it seems more likely that any challenge to Sir Keir’s position will wait until after next May’s devolved and local elections.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis gave the pot a stir by offering to stand down to allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to take over his Commons seat and then the government.

“You need someone with a vision, with the confidence of the British public, MPs, that can run a large organisation, has government experience — and those people are few and far between,” Mr Lewis said.

Mr Burnham is unlikely to take up the offer, since Norwich is a long way from his northern bailiwick, and also polling shows that the seat would be won by the Greens in any case.

One leading left Labour MP put it all more brutally to the Star: “Labour is finished.”