RACHEL Reeves lacks a coherent plan and should stop looking at back of a fag packet tax rises, a leading economist warns.
And the Chancellor needs urgently to curb debt, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King says.
The Budget next month is likely to result in tax increases to plug a growing black hole in the public finances.
But Ms Reeves is grappling with whether to break Labour’s pledge by raising income tax or with lots of smaller levies.
This could reportedly include a £10,000 annual mansion tax on owners of properties worth more than £3million.
Asked on Sky News if he could discern a coherent plan, Lord King said: “No, I can’t and that’s what worries me.”
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He urged the Chancellor to develop a serious strategy rather than just trying to tailor taxes to a number from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
He said: “The OBR produces, just before the Budget, a number and then they look round for what idea is almost written on the back of a fag packet about how you can raise an extra few billion here or few billion there.
“That is not a coherent tax strategy. You could do a great deal by thinking it through.”
Lord King also urged Ms Reeves to be honest about the dire state of finances.
He added: “The most immediate way to ensure the country’s saving as a whole goes up is to reduce the government’s Budget deficit, and that is the big challenge.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting declined to comment on speculation around the Budget but added: “People can see the public finances are in a challenging state.
“So is the economy but also so are family finances, so are business finances.
“We recognise that we’ve got to get our economy growing again.”