Sir Keir Starmer returns to growing storm over rumoured budget tax rises
Is the prime minister declaring war on middle Britain in his definition of a working person and did he mislead the public in his manifesto by giving no inkling of the tens of tens of billions of pounds of tax rises happening in Wednesday’s budget?
Sir Keir Starmer’s emphatic answer to both of these questions at his closing news conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (Chogm) in Samoa was “no”.
But the fact they were asked gives you a sense of what he’s flying back to this weekend because the £40bn gap in the public finances that Treasury sources are whispering about will have to be filled by big tax rises and spending cuts.
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Starmer questioned on tax rises
The backlash brimming over who is going to bear the brunt comes back to the first principles of what Sir Keir told me in our leaders’ debate interview, which was that he had “no plans” to raise taxes beyond what was in the manifesto.
Back then, Labour was committed to tax rises of about £8bn, based on a tax hike on private equity, the oil and gas industry and VAT on private school fees.
Those measures would pay for more teachers in schools and doctors’ appointments in the NHS.
Now the prime minister and his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, are gearing up to raise tens of billions with a 2p hike in national insurance contributions for employers, which could raise about £20bn, and possible increases in inheritance tax and capital gains tax.
Labour will of course blame the rises on its Conservative inheritance, but voters and businesses hit by tax rises next week will be forgiven for feeling misled.
For his part, the prime minister was clear in the closing news conference at the Commonwealth summit that his campaign pledge not to increase taxes on working people in terms of income tax, national insurance and VAT would be kept.
But the huge tax increases elsewhere will inevitably raise questions about whether the prime minister, who talks a lot about rebuilding trust in politics wasn’t being straight as he fought for election victory.
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He would argue that it was only after Labour lifted the bonnet on the public finances in power that he saw the extent of the damage.
But will it wash with the public given that the Conservatives ran a campaign warning of the big tax rises under Labour that are now surely on the way?
Sir Keir keeps talking about difficult decisions as he returns to what is set to be a defining week as he and his chancellor seek to land a difficult budget.
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Will the chancellor’s fiscal plan work?
The pair will be hoping that the chancellor’s decision to change her debt rules to release up to £50bn of capital to invest in Britain’s infrastructure will help tell the story of rebuilding Britain and cushion the blow of tax rises.
The prime minister had a bit of a dry run of that narrative in Samoa when he explained the hard decisions to come.
He told reporters “we are fixing the foundations, which is tough, but we are doing it on purpose because I believe very strongly that if we fix the foundations, take the tough decisions, scrub it down, make sure that our economy is on a very stable footing, which is what it will do, then that is the best platform for rebuilding the country.
“And for me, that’s the characteristics of that and what I want to be judged on is one, have we made people better off? Do they feel better off under a Labour government because we fix the foundations?”
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The problem he has in the more immediate future is that many people out there who are not hugely wealthy, who define themselves as “working people”, fear they are about to become worse off under a Starmer government.
Businesses, which Labour says it needs to rebuild the economy, are bracing for a huge new levy just months after being promised that national insurance would not rise under a Labour government.
Landlords who have properties and those who hold shares worry that this is a Labour prime minister who is coming for them after the election while not flagging he might beforehand.
His gamble is to administer the pain early in the hope of delivering real improvement in public services and living standards by the time voters go back to the polls.
In the meantime, the rocky atmosphere of his first 100 days is likely to extend into the budget and beyond.
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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