UK will not impose sales tax on private healthcare, minister says

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will not impose sales tax on private health care, its health minister said on Tuesday, amid media reports that it was one option being considered by the government ahead of a November 26 budget.

"It's not happening," health minister Wes Streeting told the BBC.

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is widely expected to hike taxes at the November budget to fill a fiscal hole which economists forecast at tens of billions of pounds, prompting speculation as to where the axe might fall.

Reeves said on Monday she was sticking to the Labour Party's manifesto commitments not to raise sales tax, known as value added tax (VAT), national insurance contributions or the rates of income tax.

But she also said there would be hard choices to make in November.

(Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli, Editing by Paul Sandle)