Sir Keir Starmer denies waging ‘war against middle Britain’ with budget
Sir Keir Starmer has denied misleading the public in the general election after hinting at tax rises for those who own shares and assets.
Labour’s election-winning manifesto promised it would not “increase taxes on working people” – but it was not made clear who exactly who is considered a “working person”.
Asked by Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby last week whether he would classify a working person as someone whose income derived from assets such as shares or property, the prime minister said: “Well, they wouldn’t come within my definition.”
It has led some critics to accuse the prime minister of targeting the middle class ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget next week through potential hikes to capital gains tax, national insurance raised for employers, or inheritance tax.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her budget on Wednesday
Quizzed by Rigby at a news conference in Samoa for the Commonwealth summit on Saturday, Sir Keir denied “plotting a war against middle Britain”.
“What we’re doing is two things in the budget,” he said.
“The first is fixing the foundations, which is dealing with the inheritance that we’ve got, including the £22bn black hole.”
The prime minister was referencing Ms Reeves’ repeated claim that the Conservatives left the new government with a £22bn shortfall, requiring them to make “tough decisions”.
“In the past, the last 14 years, leaders have walked past those problems, created fictions and I’m not prepared to do that,” he added.
“And having fixed the foundations, we’re going to rebuild our country.”
Read more:
Analysis: Labour’s muddle with messaging
Are Starmer and Reeves on the same page with budget?
He said doing so entailed “a very clear plan” to ensure people across the UK “are better off”, that their “living standards go up” and to ensure people have the public services they are “entitled to and deserve”.
He said part of the last pledge was to “make sure that our NHS is not just back on its feet, but fit for the future”.
Asked if he had misled the public during his campaign by not revealing there would be significant tax rises in Labour’s first budget, Sir Keir said: “No – we were very clear about the tax rises that we would necessarily have to make up.
“We were really 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 NICs [national insurance contributions] and in terms of VAT, and we intend to keep the promises that we made in our manifesto.”
Sir Keir and Ms Reeves have both regularly warned the public that Labour’s first budget in 14 years will be “painful” and include “tough decisions” – rhetoric the prime minister repeated on Saturday.
Rigby has predicted taxes will be going up beyond what the prime minister said in the Labour manifesto.
But after interviewing him this week, a Number 10 spokesperson clarified that those with a small amount of savings in stocks, shares or an ISA are still considered by the prime minister to be a “working person”.
Rather, Sir Keir was talking about people who “primarily get their income from assets,” they said.
Rigby said: “What does it all mean? Well, I think that it could be that raises in capital gains tax are on the cards now.”
The budget is set to take place at 12.30pm on Wednesday 30 October.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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