The tax burden is at a record high under Labour, but Treasury Chief Secretary Darren Jones told us the choice was “either cut public services by tens of billions of pounds” or go ” tax while honoring your promises in the manifesto to workers.

He said the Conservatives have been borrowing to pay for everyday expenses, which is “not a sustainable path for public finances”.

Given that independent experts have unequivocally stated that the increase in employers’ national insurance will, in large part, be passed on to workers, Sky’s Wilfred Frost asked the minister whether Labor had broken its pledge not to not raise taxes on workers.

But in a fiery exchange, Mr Jones insisted that because “the Treasury, which sets tax rates, does not raise tax rates on workers”, his party has not broken its commitment in its manifesto.

He said they “recognize” that the Office for Budget Responsibility has said that “in coming years, wage growth may decline due to employers having to pay more.”

And prodded by Wilfred Frost, he admitted that “yes” the tax rise would hit workers – but insisted it was not a breach of the manifesto.

Their promise was not to increase taxes on people who “go to work and receive a pay slip”, which is “a promise we have honored”.

Pushed again, Mr Jones said: “Look, we can have a debate about the plain English assessment of our manifesto. I helped write the thing.

“I’ll explain to you the meaning of the words. I’ll explain to you how it was written in plain English, and we can have a debate about how you interpreted it.

“But I can tell you, as one of the authors of the manifesto, that the commitment was not to increase tax rates on workers. That is a promise that we have actually honored in this budget. “

When finally asked if the government took responsibility for what is currently happening to the economy, Mr Jones replied: “Absolutely. And we take responsibility for this budget because we were elected with a mandate of change.”