Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out the UK government imposing VAT on private healthcare in the upcoming autumn Budget.<\/p>\n
Streeting told the BBC “it’s not happening” and repeated that answer when asked if he could guarantee VAT would not be levied on private healthcare.<\/p>\n
In the UK, most private healthcare services are exempt from VAT, meaning patients don’t usually pay the tax on treatments.<\/p>\n
But Chancellor Rachel Reeves has faced repeated questions about the prospect of tax rises, including VAT, when she delivers her budget in November.<\/p>\n
Economists have said taxes will have to go up in the autumn Budget if the chancellor is to meet her self-imposed rules on borrowing to fund public services.<\/p>\n
In her Labour conference speech on Monday, Reeves said the government was facing difficult choices and promised she would not take risks with the public finances.<\/p>\n
The chancellor pledged to keep “taxes, inflation and interest rates as low as possible”.<\/p>\n
But hinting at further tax rises, she said the government’s choices had been made “harder” by international events and the “long-term damage” done to the economy.<\/p>\n
In its election manifesto, Labour said it would not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT.<\/p>\n
In an interview ahead of her conference speech, Reeves was asked if VAT could rise and she said: “The manifesto commitments stand.”<\/p>\n
That form of words has been echoed by senior ministers at Labour’s conference, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n
But when pressed over whether she would have to put up taxes, Reeves said “the world has changed” in the last year – pointing to wars in Europe and the Middle East, US tariffs and the global cost of borrowing.<\/p>\n
“We’re not immune to any of those things,” she added.<\/p>\n
VAT is levied at a standard rate of 20% on most goods and services in the UK, unless they are classed as reduced or zero-rated.<\/p>\n
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has called for Reeves to put VAT on private healthcare to raise money for the NHS.<\/p>\n