Liz Kendall Warns UK Budget Tax Rises Could Create Doom Loop Former Labour minister Liz Kendall warns that further Budget tax rises could trap Britain in a doom loop of higher taxes and borrowing, urging a focus on growth. Former Labour Cabinet minister Liz Kendall has warned that further tax rises in this month's Budget could lock Britain into a tax doom loop. She urged Chancellor John Healey to focus on kickstarting growth instead of hitting families and businesses with another round of tax hikes. The intervention came as Healey warned that middle-class families will receive no help with punishing energy prices this winter. Kendall Warns of Tax Doom LoopIn an echo of Conservative criticism of Labour's first two Budgets, Kendall said Britain was getting trapped in a doom loop of ever higher taxes and ever higher borrowing. She told Sky News that the country cannot tax and borrow its way out of the problems it faces. She added that Healey needs to stay the course on the public finances and focus on getting the growth that is desperately needed. Otherwise, she warned, Britain will remain in this kind of doom loop of ever higher taxes and ever higher borrowing.Kendall, whose bid to trim the benefits bill last year was torpedoed by Labour MPs, also said the government should set a path for starting to bring down the growth in welfare spending because the growth in the cost is too much.Healey Rules Out Energy Price SupportHealey warned that middle-class families will get no help with punishing energy prices this winter. In a series of downbeat interviews, the Chancellor acknowledged that many families and businesses face a period of deep economic shock and pressure in the coming months. He said the British economy had shown itself resilient, with better than expected growth. But he said the public finances were too stretched to repeat the universal energy freeze brought in by the last Conservative government in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Instead, assistance in this month's Budget is set to be limited to families on benefits and very low incomes. Experts predict the energy price cap will jump by around 20 per cent in January and could top £2,000. Healey told ITV News he is really conscious, as everyone is, whether they are in business or trying to make household finances meet, that energy costs are punishing at the moment. But he said the state of the public finances meant that government support needs to be targeted and should be temporary.Healey suggested there would be no new money for government departments pushing for help to fund public sector pay deals, saying that people recognise these times are tough for everyone, and what they expect of a Government is to manage with the budgets available and deliver the public services they need.Youth Unemployment and Minimum Wage DebateThe Chancellor is expected to offer a package of measures designed to tackle youth unemployment by cutting the cost of hiring young people. But the government yesterday ruled out adopting Conservative plans to slash employer National Insurance contributions for the under-25s. In a response to a Commons committee, the government defended Rachel Reeves's £25 billion raid on employers' NI, saying it was part of fair and necessary decisions to restore the public finances, protect economic stability and fund the public services.Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith urged Healey to relent, saying that Labour have led Britain into a youth employment crisis. He claimed their Jobs Tax has priced young people out of the labour market and their trade union-inspired employment red tape deters firms from hiring. He said the Budget is a last chance for many of Britain's young people to get their shot at a decent job.Meanwhile, a new report calls for the minimum wage to be frozen for five years to tackle unemployment. The study by the Prosperity Institute think tank said steep rises in the minimum wage in recent years had been corrosive to young people's employment prospects and said a five-year freeze could create up to 600,000 jobs. A Conservative shadow business minister described the report's findings as very sound and urged the government to adopt them.