The Chancellor vowed to dismantle “a planning system that hands power to the blockers” at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Rachel Reeves, in a wide-ranging speech ahead of the party’s first Budget in 14 years on 30 October, again pledged to “get Britain building again”

Labour’s pre-election manifesto pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years. Previously, the country built one million homes over the last five years.

Reeves reiterated the party’s promise not to put up income tax, VAT and national insurance. And not to increase corporate tax over the coming five years.

The Chancellor said her Budget next month would drive for economic growth and that there would be “no return to austerity”

But she also highlighted the £22bn black hole in the public finances left by the last Conservative government, which would involve “difficult” tax and spending decisions.

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said the government was targeting raising “at least” £15bn to £20bn in next month’s Budget.

Rises to capital gains, inheritance tax, and other levies surrounding pensions have been touted as possible areas to boost the public coffers by the Treasury.

Capital gains tax was paid by 369,000 people in the 2022-23 tax year, according to official figures, who had made £80.6bn worth of gains between them.

The levy raised £14.4bn last year, 15% lower than in the previous tax year, mainly due to lower property prices.

Inheritance tax is not liable on estates worth less than £325,000.

But after this, the standard rate above this threshold is 40%, although there are exemptions for agricultural land, businesses, some shares and pensions.

Last year this tax raised £7.5bn and affected 4.4% of estates on death in the 2021-22 tax year.

Quilter tax and financial planning expert Rachael Griffin says: “If Labour maintains the status quo for inheritance tax and its associated thresholds or even opts to make it more punitive, then it must balance this with modernising gifting laws.

“There are hundreds of inheritance tax reliefs, and the system is ripe for simplification but that should not necessarily mean that more people have to pay inheritance tax. A fairer more equitable system could be something that Labour feel they can get behind.”

AJ Bell director of public policy Tom Selby adds: “While the chancellor’s tone may have been more positive today, she left the conference in no doubt that painful decisions are coming in the Budget on 30 October – although the country remains in the dark on where exactly the axe will fall.

“Like nature, politics abhors a vacuum, and the lack of clarity has led to inevitable speculation about possible revenue-raising reforms to pension tax relief and tax-free cash, as well as capital gains tax.”