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Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a wealth tax or say if he would extend a freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds.

Asked twice during Prime Minister’s Questions if he could rule out a tax on the wealthiest, Sir Keir sidestepped the questions.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said he was “flirting with Neil Kinnock’s demand for a wealth tax” after the former Labour leader called for one on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

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Lord Kinnock calls for ‘wealth tax’

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Sir Keir dodged the question by saying his government has stabilised the economy, but was asked again by Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay if he would stand by his promise that “those with the broadest shoulders should carry the largest burden”.

The PM simply said: “We can’t just tax our way to growth.”

Earlier this week, ministers and Sir Keir’s spokesman also refused to rule out a wealth tax.

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Wealth tax would be a ‘mistake’

PM dodges threshold freeze question

The prime minister also avoided Ms Badenoch’s questions about whether he would lift a freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds.

In her first budget last autumn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour would keep the thresholds frozen until 2028-29 = to when the Conservatives had frozen them to.

But she said, after that, they would be uprated in line with inflation.

Asked if that still stands, Sir Keir said Labour would “stick to our manifesto commitments”.

However, freezing thresholds was not in the party’s manifesto.

Freezing thresholds leads to fiscal drag, where more people pay higher levels of income tax because they are dragged into higher tax thresholds as their pay increases.

Ms Reeves previously said, at the budget: “Extending the threshold freeze would hurt working people.”

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PM will not raise income tax

Sir Keir did confirm he would not raise income tax, national insurance or VAT.

When asked by Ms Badenoch if he stood by his manifesto promise to not increase them, he said: “Yes.”

He also said the party is “absolutely fixed on our fiscal rules”.

This will make it difficult to raise more cash for public services – something the government desperately needs after a series of blistering U-turns that have resulted in savings being wiped out.

The welfare bill went through last week but was so heavily watered down after dozens of Labour MPs threatened to rebel, it will no longer save the projected £5.5bn a year by 2030.

At the beginning of June, Labour also largely reversed its cuts to winter fuel payments. It means instead of saving £1.4bn in 2024-25, rising to £1.5bn this year – the savings will only amount to £500m a year.

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Why Boris’s best mate is off to Reform

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Why Boris's best mate is off to Reform

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈       

Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.

Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.

Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

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Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

Australia to test CBDCs, stablecoins in next stage of crypto play

The trial is part of Project Acacia, an initiative from the RBA exploring how digital money and tokenization could support financial markets in Australia.

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Starmer and Macron agree need for ‘new deterrent’ to stop small boat crossings

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Starmer and Macron agree need for 'new deterrent' to stop small boat crossings

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the need for a “new deterrent” to deter small boats crossings in the Channel, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister met Mr Macron this afternoon as part of the French president’s state visit to the UK, which began on Tuesday.

High up the agenda for the two leaders is the need to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, which Mr Macron said yesterday was a “burden” for both the UK and France.

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The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.

Sir Keir is hoping he can reach a deal for a one-in one-out return treaty with France, ahead of the UK-France summit on Thursday, which will involve ministerial teams from both nations.

The deal would see those crossing the Channel illegally sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in any asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.

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However, it is understood the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.

French newspaper Le Monde reports that up to 50 small boat migrants could be sent back to France each week, starting from August, as part of an agreement between Sir Keir and Mr Macron.

A statement from Downing Street said: “The prime minister met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street this afternoon.

“They reflected on the state visit of the president so far, agreeing that it had been an important representation of the deep ties between our two countries.

“Moving on to discuss joint working, they shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment.”

It added: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.

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“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seized on the statement to criticise Labour for scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, which the Tories claim would have sent asylum seekers “entering the UK illegally” to Rwanda.

He said in an online post: “We had a deterrent ready to go, where every single illegal immigrant arriving over the Channel would be sent to Rwanda.

“But Starmer cancelled this before it had a chance to start.

“Now, a year later, he’s realised he made a massive mistake. That’s why numbers have surged and this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal channel crossings.

“Starmer is weak and incompetent and he’s lost control of our borders.”

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