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:
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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.
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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