Labour ‘only just getting started' says Starmer as he faces ‘tax raid' questions

Independent

3 days ago

Labour is 'only just getting started' in Government, Sir Keir Starmer has said as he faced questions about a 'tax raid' later this year.
The Prime Minister said he would not 'write the budget months out' from the autumn, after Kemi Badenoch alleged the Treasury could introduce a pensions levy.
Reflecting on his first year in Downing Street, Sir Keir told the Commons that Labour MPs will 'happily' face their constituents during the summer recess, which begins next week.
He claimed the Government had already paved the way for 4.5 million extra NHS appointments and added: 'So we're going to tell our constituents that, then we're going to tell them about the free school meals we're rolling out, free breakfast clubs, the free childcare and school uniform costs. We'll tell them about that.
'And then when we've done that, we'll move on to affordable houses and tell them about the £39 billion we're investing. When we've finished that, we'll tell them about the rail and road upgrades across the country with a £120 billion investment and, of course, the three trade deals.
'And, Mr Speaker, we're only just getting started.'
Sir Keir was responding to Mrs Badenoch during their final Prime Minister's Questions exchange before the recess, after the Conservative leader said: 'It's the end of term, so why don't we go through his end-of-term scorecard? The economy is contracting; inflation, highest in the G7; unemployment up every month under this Government; spending out of control, borrowing costs more expensive than Greece, and this is just the first year.'
She also told MPs: 'The fact is, this summer, they're going to have to go to their constituents and explain why they've been making such a mess over the last 12 months.
'And isn't (it) the case that the worst – given that this is just their first year – the worst is yet to come?'
Mrs Badenoch had earlier pressed Sir Keir to describe a 'modest income'.
Referring to a rise in inflation to 3.6% in June, up from 3.4% in May, she said: 'We just heard that inflation is up again, the worst in the G7.
'We left him with 2% inflation. We have borrowing up, unemployment up, taxes are up under his Government.
'The fact is, the Prime Minister doesn't get it, so let me tell him: his budget last year had high taxes. That's why the economy is contracting.
'But the Government has said that they won't put up taxes for people on modest incomes, but they also seem incapable of explaining who is in that category.
'So can the Prime Minister clear up the confusion and tell us what he thinks a modest income is?'
Sir Keir replied: 'I think of the working people across this country who put in every day and don't get back what they deserve, and that's who we're working for. That's who we're fixing the country (for).
'The sort of people that work hard but haven't necessarily got the savings to buy themselves out of problems.
'And that's who we're working for, and that's why we put the national living wage up, that's an extra £1,400.'
He added: 'We know exactly who we're working for. She comes here every week and just talks the country down.'
Mrs Badenoch denied that and added: 'I'm talking him down.'
She said: 'The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Darren Jones) said that working people are people who don't get a pay slip, but millions of self-employed people don't get a pay slip. So are the self-employed next in line for a Labour tax raid?'
The Prime Minister replied: 'The self-employed were the very people who suffered under their watch, repeatedly suffered under their watch, particularly, if I remember, during Covid, when they didn't get the support that they needed. But she talks the country down. She cherry picks.'
Mrs Badenoch said the Government is 'considering taxing' pension contributions and asked: 'Does the Prime Minister agree with me that a tax on pension contributions is a tax on working people?'
The Prime Minister described his party's manifesto commitments made last year as 'absolutely clear' and said: 'I'm not going to write the budget months out.'
He continued: 'I'm proud of the decisions that we took to invest in our NHS, to invest in our public services, all the decisions that they opposed. And it's no wonder that after a first year of a Labour Government business confidence is (at) a nine-year high. That's longer than she's been in government.'
To a call of 'withdraw' from the Opposition benches, Sir Keir replied: 'I'm not withdrawing – I'm going to repeat: business confidence is at a nine-year high.'
A Conservative spokesman later said: 'Labour won't rule out hitting the self-employed with new taxes.
'They won't rule out a tax raid on pensions. And the Prime Minister says 'modest incomes' refers to anyone without savings, raising the prospect of a tax on savings in the autumn. Labour are treating working people with contempt.
'Hiking taxes is not inevitable – it is a choice brought on by the Government's economic incompetence.'