Sir Keir Starmer questioned whether Boris Johnson was “okay” as he accused him of introducing a “working-class dementia tax” through this week’s reform to social care funding.
The Labour leader said the prime minister was fronting a “Covent Garden pickpocketing operation” over the reform that means only what individuals personally pay for their social care will contribute to the lifetime £86,000 cap.
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Is PM losing Tory support?
Raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “The only thing he is delivering is high taxes, high prices and low growth. I’m not sure the prime minister should be shouting about that.
“And it isn’t just broken promises, it’s also about fairness. Everyone needs protecting against massive health and care costs.
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“But under his plan, someone with assets worth about £100,000 will lose almost everything yet somebody with assets of about £1 million will keep almost everything.”
After quizzing the prime minister a number of times on the issue, Sir Keir added: “It’s a classic con game. A Covent Garden pickpocketing operation. The prime minister is the frontman, distracting people with wild promises and panto speeches whilst his chancellor dips his hand in their pocket.”
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And he asked: “How could he possibly have managed to devise a working-class dementia tax?”
The PM retorted that the social care plan “does more for working people up and down the country than Labour ever did”.
Mr Johnson earlier this week gave a speech to business leaders in which he imitated a car engine, lost his place and effusively praised Peppa Pig World, prompting exasperation from some senior Tories.
And on top of the Tory rebellion over social care, he has been plagued by criticism over standards after a U-turn the government performed after initially whipping Conservative MPs to reject suspending now ex-Tory MP Owen Paterson for breaching lobbying rules.
Sir Keir used PMQs to echo a reporter’s question after the Peppa Pig speech, as he asked: “Is everything OK, prime minister?”
The PM replied: “I’ll tell you what’s not working – it’s that line of attack.”
Image: The PM said his social care reform ‘does more for working people than Labour ever did’
Mr Johnson used Sir Keir’s attack on him for downgrading rail plans for the Midlands and the North by saying there has been “nothing like it for a century”, as he referenced a promised £96 billion investment and three new high-speed lines.
He added: “It turns out that (he) actually campaigned against HS2, said it would be devastating and said it should be cancelled.”
Mr Johnson said: “I took a decision that it was the right thing to do for the long-term interests of the whole country, how can they possibly trust that man?”
Thousands of savers face potential losses after a $2.7 million shortfall was discovered at Ziglu, a British crypto fintech that entered special administration.
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.