Sir Keir Starmer accused of plotting tax raid on the middles courses
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of plotting a tax raid on the middle classes after he admitted that the looming Budget will be ‘painful’.
During a doom-laden speech from the Downing Street rose garden yesterday, the Prime Minister warned that the country must accept ‘short-term pain’ for ‘long-term good’.
Paving the way for hikes to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and a possible raid on pensions, he said those with the ‘broadest shoulders’ should bear the brunt.
Last night Sir Keir was accused of ‘breaking his promise’ after repeatedly vowing not to raise levies on working people during the General Election campaign.
The PM insisted he was being ‘honest’ about the tough decisions needed to fill what he claimed was an unexpected £22billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances.
But his claims of a ‘dire’ inheritance have come as his ministers caved into trade union demands for inflation-busting pay deals.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives his inheritance speech in the garden of 10 Downing Street on August 27
Kemi Badenoch (pictured arriving at Downing Street in March) has accused Mr Starmer of taking the British public for fools
Last night Tory leadership contender Kemi Badenoch said: ‘Keir Starmer is taking the British public for fools, but his dishonest analysis won’t wash. He campaigned on promises he couldn’t deliver and now he is being found out.
‘They are prioritising the demands of their trade union paymasters over investment in public services. But, like all Labour governments, they will eventually run out of money – paving the way for a tax raid on the middle classes.’
Her rival Robert Jenrick said: ‘Sir Keir Starmer is not taking long to show his true colours. Fifty-three days after entering Downing Street on a ‘read my lips: no new taxes’ message, he is already planning to break his promise and raise taxes on middle-class Brits.’
Even union bosses were shocked by Sir Keir’s gloomy message during his first major speech – dubbed a ‘state of the nation’ address – since entering Downing Street.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: ‘We need change. A bleak vision of Britain is not what we need now. It is time to see the change that Labour promised.’
Referencing Labour’s unpopular decision to strip ten million pensioners of their winter fuel payments, she warned: ‘We should not pit pensioners against workers. That is not a choice that should be on the table.’
Sir Keir told those gathered in the No10 rose garden: ‘There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in. Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden.
‘But, just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham marches through Cheltenham against laws restricting the right to strike on January 27
Robert Jenrick MP speaks during the launch of his bid to become the next Conservative Party Leader on August 2
‘Frankly – things will get worse before they get better.’
Asked to ‘level with people’ about what taxes he could raise, Sir Keir insisted there would be no hikes to income tax, VAT or national insurance.
He added: ‘I was clear [about those taxes] before the election. I’ll be clear again after the election.’
However it has sparked speculation about which levies could be increased instead when Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her first Budget on October 30.
Laura Suter, of investment platform AJ Bell, said the PM’s comments added ‘fuel to rumours around increases to capital gains tax and inheritance tax’.
Howard Cox, founder of campaign group FairFuelUK, said: ‘I have credible intelligence that the Treasury has virtually settled… on increasing fuel duty by 10p a litre.
‘I predict the net outcome from the October Budget is that the UK’s 37million drivers are set to be fleeced on a scale not seen since 1997 to 2010 when Labour increased fuel duty by a staggering 46 per cent.’
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of plotting a tax raid on the middle classes after he admitted that the looming Budget will be ‘painful’
Sir Keir insisted that ‘things are worse than we ever imagined’ and that the Office for Budget Responsibility watchdog did not know about the £22billion ‘black hole’. He added: ‘That’s not performative – that’s fact.’
But Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, said it was ‘not really a fair statement’.
He told Times Radio: ‘We always knew that if we’re going to avoid cuts, they would have to raise taxes or work to very different public finance rules to the ones that they’ve set out.’
Former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said: ‘Keir Starmer’s speech is an attempt to justify all his broken promises. This was always Labour’s plan – say what they needed to get elected, then go back on their words and blame the previous government.’
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott added: ‘Starmer’s speech has made it clear. Ruinous tax rises, which he’s always planned, are on the way.
‘Pensions, investments, homes – nothing will be safe. And, when introduced, he will have broken his election promise to the British people.’
