LABOUR’S Rachel Reeves has likened herself to Margaret Thatcher by declaring she is the “iron” Shadow Chancellor who is intensely “relaxed about people being rich”.
She told The Sun on Sunday — ahead of a crucial Budget week — that she wants taxes on workers to be lower.
And she targeted the sick note culture plaguing Britain — saying it is everyone’s responsibility to work if they can.
Ms Reeves also hit out at protesters intimidating MPs and revealed she does not advertise her events any more after getting security advice from police.
In comments that risk infuriating Labour’s left, she said businesses and bosses that earn big bucks are good as they are a sign the UK is a success.
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She said: “I’m very happy about people making a success of their lives and earning money. I’m pleased when companies make profits.
"That is a good thing, because it means more jobs, more prosperity, more growth here in Britain.”
Asked if she agreed with Labour Peer Peter Mandelson — who famously said he was “intensely relaxed” about people getting “filthy rich” as long as they pay their taxes — she added: “I am relaxed about people being rich. But what I don’t want to do is to pull the ladder up.
“That’s what we’ve got today — too many people aren’t having the opportunities to get on and succeed in life.”
Taunting her Conservative rivals, she laid claim to be the heir to former Tory PM Iron Lady Mrs Thatcher, by vowing to be an “iron” Shadow Chancellor.
She said: “It is absolutely essential that whoever is running the public finances has an iron grip on them. And I absolutely will.”
Labour’s finance chief also suggested she will back tax cuts for working people if Chancellor Jeremy Hunt doles them out in this week’s Budget.
She said: “I don’t think that you can tax your way to higher prosperity.
“I want taxes on working people to be lower. Your readers — good, hard working people — deserve more of their own money in their pockets.
“And that’s what I would want to do if I was your Chancellor.”
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Asked if she plans to go into the election with a Gordon Brown-style manifesto vow not to raise income tax or National Insurance, Ms Reeves said it was too early to make the promise.
But she said she is “loud and clear” that she wants “taxes on working people to be lower”.
She said: “The tax burden is the highest it’s been in 70 years. I don’t want that to continue.”
The Chancellor himself is under massive pressure to dole out multi-billion pound tax cuts to win back grumpy voters and even grumpier Tory MPs.
One of the ideas he is considering is abolishing non-dom status — a tax break for wealthy people who earn cash abroad but live in Britain.
He would use the cash for other tax cuts. And it is a Labour policy.
Labour are banking on the £2billion it is estimated to raise to pay for their promise to buy new scanners for the NHS and fund more dentist appointments and school breakfast clubs.
But Ms Reeves said her party may have to “revisit our own plans” if he swipes the cash.
She said: “If they do belatedly take the money from our non-doms proposal, then we’ll have to look again.”
I’m pleased when firms make profits. That’s good
Reeves on business
This could be the last Budget before the General Election, which is expected in November, but could come sooner.
Labour are around 20 points ahead in the polls and some predict they are on course for a 1997-style landslide, though most reckon it will end up far tighter.
Terrified of falling at the last hurdle, leader Sir Keir Starmer and co have adopted an ultra-cautious “Ming vase strategy”.
They are saying very little and promising even less in case it backfires.
But they suffered a big setback last month when they junked their flagship £28billion-a-year green investment plan.
Ms Reeves and Sir Keir only announced the axe after months of secret briefings and reports that it was for the chop.
It sparked talk of a rift between the leadership and Labour’s climate change chief Ed Miliband.
Others said the party had broken the “trust” of voters.
But Ms Reeves hit back, saying: “The thing voters can believe and trust is I will never make any commitments where I can’t say where the money is going to come from.
“I won’t go into the election with any policies not fully costed and fully funded.
"That’s what you get with me. If there’s ever a choice between an individual policy and our fiscal rules and our fiscal discipline, fiscal discipline always wins.”
She added: “Trust has been eroded terribly in politics and people just don’t believe what politicians say after the number of broken promises these last few years.
I want taxes on working people to be lower
Reeves on taxation
"I don’t want to be that sort of Chancellor.
"I’m only going to make promises that I can keep.”
If she does become Chancellor, one of the biggest problems in her in-tray is how to get the country back to work.
Some 5.2 million people are currently unemployed, with 2.5 million of them signed off because of long-term sickness.
And there has been an explosion of 20-somethings on extended sickness due to mental health problems.
Ms Reeves said “something has gone very badly wrong in Britain” for these numbers to be so high.
She said individuals must think “what our responsibilities are” and “if you can work, you should work”.
If Labour wins, Ms Reeves will become Britain’s first female Chancellor, at a time when many politicians are leaving Westminster amid threats and violence.
MPs have had pro-Palestine mobs surround their homes and offices.
One politician’s office was firebombed.
The Shadow Chancellor was first elected as the MP for Leeds West in 2010 and since then two MPs have been murdered — her close friend Labour MP Jo Cox and Tory MP Sir David Amess.
Ms Reeves said she herself has been forced to change the way she works due to the increasing security threat.
If you can work, you should be working
Reeves on jobless
She explained: “Jo was a good friend of mine.
"I had a surgery on the day she was killed, so, of course it makes you think.
"The police want to know where I’m going to be, and if there are things I’m uncomfortable or worried about.
“We don’t advertise where I’m going.
"We will do lots of public events, but we wouldn’t say in advance where we will be.”
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