Darren Jones also declines to rule out wealth tax when questioned about government plans

In an interview with the Times, Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, says firms are “adjusting employment and hours” in the light of last year’s rise in employer NICs. That sounds like a euphemism for cutting jobs. But he says, if the labour market slow down, the Bank may respond by cutting interest rates more aggressively.

Asked about this comment in an interview on the Today programme, Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, played down the impact of the budget. He said:

There’ve also been hundreds of thousands of new jobs created across the economy, and in the first quarter of the year [we had] the fastest growing economy in the G7, so we’re doing everything we can to create conditions for businesses to be profitable and to be able to grow.

Of course, we had that particular tax decision in the budget last year, because our commitment was to protect working people in their pay slips. And I recognise the independence of the bank governor.