“EXCLUSIVE: Sir Keir Starmer Faces Criticism Over Budget Assurances Amid Concerns About Middle Britain and Manifesto Promises.H
Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of telling a ‘double lie’ by insisting the Budget would not be a ‘war on Middle Britain’ nor break Labour manifesto promises.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to hit employers with a whopping £20 billion increase in their National Insurance bills and announce a welter of other expected tax rises on Wednesday.
But the Prime Minister denied that he misled voters when he pledged during the General Election campaign not to hit ‘working people’ with increases to VAT, National Insurance or income tax.
At a Commonwealth summit in the South Pacific, Sir Keir was asked whether he had Middle Britain in his sights with the £40 billion package of tax rises and spending cuts, and insisted: ‘No. Let me be clear about that.’
But Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said last night: ‘Sir Keir has lied not once but twice by claiming not to have breached his manifesto promises on tax and by insisting that his Budget will not be an assault on the heartlands of Middle Britain.’
Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of telling a ‘double lie’ by insisting the Budget would not be a ‘war on Middle Britain’ nor break Labour manifesto promises
Chancellor Rachel Reeves pictured at a reception at the British Embassy in Washington DC
Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick delivers a speech at Henry Jackson Society on October 25
Mr Jenrick added: ‘Nobody voted for Rachel Reeves’s raid on working people. This is a political choice and we must fight it.
‘It turns out Labour’s election manifesto was another dodgy dossier – they lied to the British people through their teeth.’
Wednesday’s Budget is also likely to include increases to capital gains and inheritance taxes and extend freezes to income tax thresholds, dragging more people into higher rates as wages rise with inflation.
Amid growing consternation among Labour MPs over the potential long-term electoral impact of the measures:
- Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng warns in a Mail on Sunday article that ‘class war is back’, adding: ‘The stupidity of trying to distinguish between workers and investors in property and other assets is pure socialism… the hopes of working people will be shattered by the sledgehammer of Labour tax and spend’;
- James Reed, the boss of Britain’s biggest recruitment firm Reed, said the additional National Insurance burden Ms Reeves is expected to announce on businesses will lead to a sharp decline in them taking on new staff;
- Treasury sources said that £1.4 billion would be allocated in the Budget for school rebuilding as part of wider ‘steps to protect education and early years priorities’;
- New figures showed the public sector has ballooned to a record 5.8 million jobs under Labour, with 318 new posts created every day;
- Ms Reeves is tipped to announce a boost for craft beer brewers and Scotch whisky distillers;
- Military sources claimed that the historic Royal Naval College at Dartmouth could fall victim to spending cuts.
Speaking before boarding a 27-hour flight back to Britain, Sir Keir told a press conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Samoa: ‘We were very clear about the tax rises that we would necessarily have to make.’
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to hit employers with a whopping £20 billion increase in their National Insurance bills
Kwasi Kwarteng leaves Downing Street on September 6, 2022 after being appointed chancellor
He insisted that the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions would not be a manifesto breach because the pledge was restricted to ‘working people’.
He has classified that as meaning someone who ‘goes out and earns their living, usually paid in a sort of monthly cheque’.
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However, higher costs for employers are expected to have a knock-on effect on employees as they deter recruitment and stunt wage rises.
In a faintly farcical clarification, Downing Street later stated that those who hold a small amount of savings in stocks and shares still count as ‘working people’.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that Sir Keir meant someone who primarily gets their income from assets would not be considered a ‘working person’.
Ms Reeves said during the election campaign: ‘We certainly won’t be increasing income tax or National Insurance if we win.’
At his press conference, Sir Keir repeated his assertion that he was planning to ‘fix the foundations’ of the economy after the Tories had left behind an alleged £22 billion ‘black hole’ in public finances.
He said: ‘We were clear in the manifesto and in the campaign that we wouldn’t be increasing taxes on working people, and spelt out what we meant by that in terms of income tax, in terms of National Insurance contributions and in terms of VAT, and we intend to keep the promises that we made in our manifesto.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arriving at a leader’s retreat during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa
Experts have also warned that planned changes to the fiscal rules to allow Ms Reeves to borrow up to £50 billion extra for investment projects are likely to lead to higher mortgage rates.
But while in Opposition, the Chancellor said she would not ‘fiddle the figures’ to secure extra resources.
Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last night branded it a ‘scandal’ that Labour did not come clean about tax hikes before voters went to the polls.
He said: ‘It’s clear that this Budget will be a hammer blow for working people.
‘Keir Starmer promised at the election he wouldn’t raise taxes on working people, but it’s clear that he doesn’t have a clue as to what the definition of a ‘working person’ even is.
‘The real scandal is that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves always planned to raise taxes, they just didn’t have the courage to tell the British public at the election.’
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