Keir Starmer defends slicing winter gas funds for pensioners
Sir Keir Starmer defended cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners today, laying the blame at the door of the Tories for leaving the economy ‘worse than we ever imagined’.
In a gloomy speech from the Downing Street rose garden he claimed that his Government has done more in seven weeks than the Tory government did in seven years in power.
Delivering more tales of woe, the Prime Minister vowed to do the ‘hard work needed’ to ‘root out 14 years of rot’.
But after defending the decision to make the Winter Fuel Allowance available only to benefit recipients, the PM also defended handing out billions to end strikes by militant rail and medical unions.
‘We ended the national strikes that have crippled our country for years, because I defy anyone to tell me that you can grow the economy when people can’t get to work, because the transport system is broken, or can’t return to work because they’re stuck on an NHS waiting list,’ he said.
‘We’ve done more in seven weeks than the last government did in seven years. And these are just the first steps towards the change that people voted for, the change that I’m determined to deliver.’
He went on to admit that Rachel Reeves first Budget later this year would be ‘painful’, saying the economic inheritance from the Tories had been ‘dire’.
In a gloomy speech from the Downing Street rose garden he claimed that his Government has done more in seven weeks than the Tory government did in seven years in power.
The speech will be followed by Rachel Reeves’ autumn Budget in October, where she is expected to hike taxes and squeeze spending
After defending the decision to make the Winter Fuel Allowance available only to benefit recipients, the PM also defended handing over billions to end strikes by militant rail and medical unions.
He compared his task in No 10 to the communities that rallied round to clean up in the wake of the summer’s riots.
While the violence and disorder showed ‘the cracks in our society after 14 years of populism and failure’, he said they also ‘revealed the cure’.
Sir Keir told an audience in the Rose Garden of No10 it was ‘found not in the cynical conflict of populism but in the coming together of a country the morning after that cleared up their community’.
‘Because that is who we are, that is what we stand for. People who cared for their neighbour. Communities who stood fast against hatred and division.
‘Emergency services who did their duty – even when they were in danger. And a Government that put the people of this country first.’
Sir Keir’s speech came ahead of what has been dubbed a ‘fortnight of s***e’ in which ministers are set to make a series of doom-laden announcements, blamed on the Tories.
But Tory chairman Richard Fuller said: ‘This is nothing but a speech to distract the public from the promises Starmer made that he never had any intention of keeping.
‘In fewer than 100 days Labour has dumped its ambition of public service and become engulfed in sleaze, handed out bumper payouts to its union paymasters with ‘no strings’ attached and laid the ground work to harm pensioners and tax working people.’
The speech will be followed by Rachel Reeves’ autumn Budget in October, where she is expected to hike taxes and squeeze spending.
Sir Keir will deliver his words in Downing Street’s rose garden this morning. But in an unusual move, he has invited around 50 members of the public to attend
In an unusual move, Sir Keir invited around 50 members of the public to attend the speech.
No 10 said the audience was made up of ‘familiar faces’ he met throughout the General Election campaign – including representatives from business, education and public services.
The PM said: ‘Next week, Parliament will return. The business of politics will resume, but it will not be business as usual.
‘Because we can’t go on like this any more. No more politics of performance, papering over the cracks, or division and distraction. Things are being done differently now.
‘When I stood on the steps of Downing Street two months ago, I promised this Government would serve people like you: apprentices, teachers, nurses, small business owners, firefighters – those serving the country every day.
‘I promised that we would be judged by our actions, not by our words. We will do the hard work needed to root out 14 years of rot and reverse a decade of decline,’ he is expected to say.
‘We’ll fix the foundations, protecting taxpayers’ money and people’s living standards. We’ll reform our planning system to build the new homes we need.
‘We’ll level up workers’ rights so people have security, dignity and respect. We’ll strengthen our border security. We’ll crack down on crime. We’ll transform public transport. And we’ll give our children the opportunities they need to succeed.’
