TAX the super-rich instead of slashing services, Chancellor Rachel Reeves was told today, on the eve of her Commons statement, expected to announce more public spending cuts.

Campaigners from a range of charities and voluntary organisations are set to rally outside the Treasury this evening to demand a wealth tax instead of “austerity with a red rosette” in the words of a leading trade unionist.

And former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, presently suspended from the Labour whip, has warned that Ms Reeves was in danger of making Labour “just another austerity party” if she missed a last chance to change course.

The wealth tax option is growing in political popularity following recent announcements of a £5 billion cut in disability benefits and huge cuts to overseas aid to fund new arms spending.

It is backed by the TUC and a broad range of Labour MPs.

Just a 2.5 per cent tax on assets over £10 million could raise £36bn annually, according to Greenpeace’s research.

Scottish TUC general secretary Roz Foyer has told Ms Reeves she has “a clear choice — she can help our most vulnerable, or she can cut their support … she must choose assistance, not austerity.

“Workers did not vote for austerity 2.0 but with a red rosette. We voted for change.

“That means direct investment into our public services and social security via tax increases on wealth, property and assets.”

“Tax the Super-Rich” will be beamed onto the Treasury during the protest, organised by War on Want, Oxfam, Greenpeace and others.

Author and economist Gary Stevenson, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, Labour peer Prem Sikka and businessman Dale Vince are among those expected to address the rally.

Writing for the Guardian, Mr McDonnell spelt out an alternative programme to Ms Reeves’s renewed austerity.

“It is not too late to turn things around,” he wrote.

“In the very short term, a relaxing of the fiscal rules would enable the Chancellor to raise sufficient taxes from those with the broadest shoulders to prevent a return to ongoing austerity.

“It is not rocket science to implement a programme of marginal tax rises that would end cuts and fund the progressive policies any Labour government would aim to pursue.

“The list is obvious: equalising capital gains tax with income tax rates; a realistic rise in corporation tax; a financial transaction tax; the introduction of a small wealth tax on multi-millionaires.”

But he warned: “The danger now is that the government’s standing could be irretrievably damaged as the Labour Party is branded just another austerity party.

“This will provide the key that opens the door to the populist Reform UK.”

Protest organiser Nuri Syed Corser, of War on Want, said: “Inequality is soaring, the climate is collapsing, and public services are at breaking point.

“We need huge public investment to tackle these crises.

“But instead, the government is gearing up to deliver lethal cuts to welfare, international aid and green investment.

“Meanwhile, the obscene wealth of the super-rich is surging and going largely untaxed. It’s time to tax it.”

Matilda Borgstrom, climate campaigner at 350.org, called the Cabinet’s approach “cruel and misguided,” adding: “Reeves is prioritising the interests of a handful of elites over the wellbeing of millions.

“This is not just an economic failure — it’s a moral one.”  

The Chancellor is expected to ignore all this advice and double down on her new austerity strategy, sweetened perhaps by an offer to spend an extra £2bn on social house-building.

On top of cuts already announced, she is set to target Civil Service jobs, with as many as 10,000 to be axed.

Ms Reeves also came under friendly fire as the Labour MP whose constituency includes the O2 centre, where the Chancellor enjoys frequent freebies, criticised her grifting.

Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, said: “I don’t personally think it’s appropriate. If I want to go to a concert at the O2, I’ll pay for it.”