Sir Keir Starmer has given us an idea of who he wants to protect in the budget – but is Rachel Reeves on the same page?
Who counts as a working person will matter a lot next week when the new Labour government unveils what is being billed as a historic budget.
Sir Keir Starmer used the phrase “working people” repeatedly in the general election as he sought to reassure voters he wasn’t going to raise their taxes.
But as this bumper budget comes around, it’s clear that someone’s taxes are going to go up, despite the prime minister repeatedly refusing to acknowledge this in our interview at the Commonwealth leaders summit in Samoa on Thursday. The closest he got was telling me “we’re not going back to austerity” which means no to big spending cuts.
Treasury insiders tell me that the government has to find £40bn to plug gaps in the public finances, and that means tax rises and spending cuts are on the way.
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So taxes are going up, and there are a couple of supplementary questions to this: Who is going to be hit by tax rises?
And, given pretty much all of us with a job might count ourselves as “working people”, are lots of you going to feel let down by the new Labour government should you find yourselves caught in tax rises?
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PM questioned on tax rises
On Thursday, I did get a more contoured definition of who the prime minister really means when he talks about working people.
For a start, he was clear to me that someone who gets their income from assets, such as shares and property, as well as work, wouldn’t come within” Sir Keir’s definition of a working person.
This is a strong hit that rises in capital gains taxes could be on the way and also leans to a bigger point that Sir Keir thinks the wealthy – workers or not – should pay more tax.
Working people are, in his “mind’s eye”, the people who have a “sort of knot in the bottom of the stomach, which if push comes to shove and something happens to me and my family, I can’t just get a cheque book out, even though maybe [I’ve] got a bit of savings”.
“They are the people that, in a way, I came into politics to try and make sure they had secure jobs and didn’t have the anxiety of public services not working, and felt genuinely better off with better opportunities. That’s who I have in my mind’s eye.”
Who might those people be?
Is it a “white van man” hoping that fuel duty won’t go up, or a nurse worried that her council tax could go up?
Is it the millions of workers on the basic rate of income tax that could find themselves dragged into higher tax bands should the chancellor decide to extend the Conservatives’ freezing of tax bands?
The chancellor could raise £7bn a year from that if she extends that beyond 2028. But if she does that on Wednesday, millions of those workers in Sir Keir’s “mind’s eye” might feel let down by this government.
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In the election, it helped the prime minister to have a broad definition of a working person because it meant he could talk to lots of groups of voters.
But now, as we get to the nuts and bolts of who is going to shoulder the burden of plugging gaps in the public finances, the “difficult decisions” as he puts it, are going to bite.
We do now have, at least, a better sense of who he wants to protect in this budget from tax rises. But will his chancellor follow through?
UK
Teenager living in ‘continuous pain’ after surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar carried out ‘inappropriate’ operations
A 15-year-old boy who was operated on twice by a now unlicensed Great Ormond Street surgeon is living with “continuous” pain.
Finias Sandu has been told by an independent review the procedures he underwent on both his legs were “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” for his age.
The teenager from Essex was born with a condition that causes curved bones in his legs.
Aged seven, a reconstructive procedure was carried out on Finias’s left leg, lengthening the limb by 3.5cm.
A few years later, the same operation was carried out on his right leg which involved wearing an invasive and heavy metal frame for months.
He has now been told by independent experts these procedures should not have taken place and concerns have been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations.
Yaser Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence last year. Pic: LinkedIn
His doctor at London’s prestigious Great Ormond Street Hospital was former consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar. Sky News has spoken to others he treated.
Mr Jabbar also did not arrange for updated scans or for relevant X-rays to be conducted ahead of the procedures.
The surgeries have been found to have caused Finias “harm” and left him in constant pain.
“The pain is there every day, every day I’m continuously in pain,” he told Sky News.
“It’s not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it’s always there. It just doesn’t leave, it’s a companion to me, just always there.”
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Finias’s surgery pictures
Care of over 700 patients being assessed
Mr Jabbar rescinded his UK medical licence in January last year after working at Great Ormond Street between 2017 and 2022.
The care of his 700-plus patients is being assessed, with some facing corrective surgery, among them Finias.
“Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it’s just too much to comprehend for me,” he said.
“It wasn’t something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don’t really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.”
Doctors refused to treat Finias because of his surgeries
Finias and his family relocated to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in the summer of 2021.
The pain worsened and they sought advice from doctors in Romania, who refused to treat Finias because of the impact of his surgeries.
Dozens of families seeking legal claims
His mother Cornelia Sandu is “furious” and feels her trust in the hospital has been shattered. They are now among dozens of families seeking legal claims.
Cyrus Plaza from Hudgell Solicitors is representing the family. He said: “In cases where it has been identified that harm was caused, we want to see Great Ormond Street Hospital agreeing to pay interim payments of compensation for the children, so that if they need therapy or treatment now, they can access it.”
Finias is accessing therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year.
A spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital told Sky News: “We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted.
“We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.”
Finias with his mother and sister
Service not ‘safe for patients’
Sky News has attempted to contact Mr Jabbar.
An external review into the wider orthopaedic department at the hospital began in September 2022.
It was commissioned after the Royal College of Surgeons warned the hospital’s lower limb reconstruction service was not “safe for patients or adequate to meet demand”.
The investigation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sir Keir Starmer has said closer ties with the EU will be good for the UK’s jobs, bills and borders ahead of a summit where he could announce a deal with the bloc.
The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday as part of its efforts to “reset” relations post-Brexit.
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – but disagreements over a youth mobility scheme and fishing rights could prove to be a stumbling block.
The prime minister has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
His comment comes after Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Friday work on a defence deal was progressing but “we’re not there yet”.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen later that day while at a summit in Albania.
Ursula von der Leyen and Sir Keir had a brief meeting earlier this week. Pic: PA
If agreed, the deal will be the third in two weeks, following trade agreements with India and the US.
Sir Keir said: “First India, then the United States – in the last two weeks alone that’s jobs saved, faster growth and wages rising.
“More money in the pockets of British working people, achieved through striking deals not striking poses.
“Tomorrow, we take another step forward, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she is “worried” about what the PM might have negotiated.
Ms Badenoch – who has promised to rip up the deal with the EU if it breaches her red lines on Brexit – said: “Labour should have used this review of our EU trade deal to secure new wins for Britain, such as an EU-wide agreement on Brits using e-gates on the continent.
“Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door. This isn’t a reset, it’s a surrender.”
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