Sir Keir Starmer publishes his tax returns
Sir Keir Starmer paid £67,033 to HMRC in the last financial year, his tax returns show.
The Labour leader published the details after Rishi Sunak released his on Wednesday, following months of political pressure.
Sir Keir’s document shows he paid £67,033 in total tax for the 2021/22 financial year, and £51,547 the previous year.
It revealed that he made capital gains of £85,466 in the financial year 2021/22, on which he paid £23,930 in capital gains tax.
Notes made in the return said the capital gains tax reflected his share of the capital gains when his sister decided to sell a house he helped her to buy.
As leader of the opposition Sir Keir took home £126,154 in the same year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that he was “glad” to publish his financial affairs, which showed he paid £432,493 in tax in 2021/22.
That included £325,826 in capital gains tax and £120,604 in UK income tax on a total of £1.9m in the last tax year, the documents showed.
Sir Keir Starmer’s total income figures
Sir Keir welcomed the move by Mr Sunak and pledged to publish his own.
He would not comment on the contents of Mr Sunak’s, saying it is for “others to analyse”.
(L-R) Figures for 2020/21 and 2021/22
Following the release of Mr Starmer’s tax return, tax consultant Ray McCann told Sky News: “This is even less interesting than the prime minister!
“It is clear that both the prime minister and Sir Keir have provided only a summary and have not ‘published their tax returns’.
“The capital gains tax computation may also be abridged as there is no indication that he has utilised the annual exempt capital gains tax amount so the chargeable gain may be net of that.
“No charitable donations but I suspect that these may have been left out of the summary. Without a calculation of the tax, it is impossible to be sure.
“Otherwise fairly routine and would not give rise to any concerns.”
Dan Neidle, the founder of Tax Associates, said the details released by Mr Starmer were “slightly more interesting” than the prime minister’s.
He pointed out that the tax the Labour leader paid on the capital gains made from his sister’s house sale should have been £20,486, given he is entitled to a £12,300 allowance with the rest taxed at 28%.
Mr Neidle said it appears Mr Starmer actually paid £23,930 in capital gains tax because he chose not to use the allowance.
Mr Sunak said he had published his tax returns “in the interests of transparency, as I said I would, and I’m glad to have done that”, adding he did not think the public was that interested.
The publication of the Labour leader’s tax return comes after it was reported that he enjoyed a special “tax-unregistered” pension scheme meaning that the lifetime allowance did not apply to his contributions as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.
Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed rejected allegations that Mr Starmer was a hypocrite, telling Sky News: “It wasn’t Keir Starmer as Director of Public Prosecutions who set his own pension.
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“That was set by the Conservative government at the time so if people have problems with it they really need to speak to David Cameron and George Osborne,” he said.
A key part of Jeremy Hunt’s budget last week was his decision to abolish the lifetime allowance on pension savings, meaning people will now be allowed to put aside as much as they can in their private scheme without being taxed. The threshold had been £1m.
The Labour Party has pledged to reverse the plans if it wins power, calling it “a Tory tax cut for the rich”.
The party released analysis saying the policy proposed in Mr Hunt’s budget will save the wealthiest 1% of pensioners £45,000 when they retire.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News it was “the wrong priority” amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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