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The National
22-04-2025
- Business
- The National
No surprise millionaire Anas Sarwar is against a wealth tax
MILLIONAIRE nepo baby Anas Sarwar has said that a wealth tax is the "wrong solution" to problems of widening societal and economic inequality. Speaking during an interview on the Glasgow local radio station Glad Radio, the branch manager ruled out supporting a proposal to levy a wealth tax of just 2% annually on assets worth more than £10 million, a proposal which has been backed by some Labour MPs who still understand what the Labour party was supposed to be about before Keir Starmer took it further to the right than the Conservative party under John Major. The anti-poverty campaign organisation put forward a plan for a 2% annual tax on assets above £10m, which they said would affect a tiny 0.04% of the UK population and could raise £24 billion a year, obviating the need for the savage cuts to disability benefits which were announced last month by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall. In March, Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside since 2019, tweeted: "A wealth tax of 2% on assets over £10 million would raise £24 billion per year. When the government talks about 'tough choices' – why is this choice never on the table?" READ MORE: Israeli MP urges UK politicians to be more like Donald Trump Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for six months for rebelling on the Government's refusal to abolish the two-child cap on benefits, organised an online petition calling for the UK Government to implement a wealth tax. The petition attracted over 50,000 signatories. Burgon hit out at the decision to 'slash disability benefits instead of taxing extreme wealth' and claimed that a two percent wealth tax on assets over £10m would raise up to £24bn per year. Around a dozen Labour MPs, as well as union leaders and a number of Labour peers, have called for a tax on extreme wealth. The calls have been rebuffed by Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Ever the obedient branch manager who does not dare contradict his bosses, Sarwar has rejected the calls for a tax on extreme wealth, insisting that it was the "wrong solution" to increasing inequality, but he declined to detail what the right solution might be. It's definitely not impoverishing the disabled and refusing to introduce the single measure which would do more than any other to tackle child poverty - abolishing the two-child benefit cap - but Sarwar is just fine with all that. The Guardian has reported that UK Government ministers have privately ruled out abolishing the two-child benefit cap despite warnings that a failure to do so could result in the highest levels of child poverty since records began. Anas Sarwar had previously defended the decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Questioned about child poverty earlier this year, he said: "The SNP wants to pretend that one single benefit or payment has the answer. (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) "The uncomfortable fact is that we can't end poverty with welfare alone. "To end poverty, we need to get our economy moving, our public services working and create more decent, well-paid jobs. "The harsh reality is that there is a multidisciplinary approach required if we are to end child poverty." That's a classic example of a straw man argument from a straw man. Absolutely no one is claiming that child poverty can be ended with the Scottish Child Payment or abolishing the two-child benefit cap alone. This is the kind of deliberately obtuse intelligence insulting nonsense we've come to expect from Sarwar as he contorts himself in defence of the indefensible. The argument is that these two measures are important weapons in the arsenal if child poverty is to be tackled. Sarwar's argument is rather like telling a cancer patient who needs chemotherapy, surgery, and a regimen of other drug treatments that there's no need to bother with the chemotherapy as it alone will not cure the cancer. Charities have warned that the Labour Government will oversee the highest child poverty rates on record if they fail to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Barnardo's, Save the Children UK, and Citizens Advice were among the organisations to issue the warning in a joint letter to the Prime Minister. Anti-poverty charities have long pointed out that abolishing the two-child cap on benefits is the single most cost-effective measure that the UK Government could introduce to reduce child poverty. Labour had opposed the cap while in opposition, and the Labour party in Scotland still opposes the cap - at least in theory - in practice the branch office does what it's told by the Westminster government, but since taking office in July last year, Labour has U-turned with Starmer insisting that economic growth must come first. The charities warn that failing to scrap the limit could put child poverty at its highest level since records began by the end of this parliament. The letter says: 'Scrapping the two-child limit is by far the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty. 'It would lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight and result in 700,000 children living in less deep poverty. "If it is not scrapped, the stark reality is that child poverty will be significantly higher at the end of this parliament than when the government took office, making this the first time a Labour government would leave such a legacy, and the number of children living in poverty will be at its highest since records began." The Child Poverty Action Group, which signed the letter, estimates that the number of children in poverty across the UK will jump from 4.5 million currently to 4.8 million by 2029 unless urgent action is taken. Thanks to the Scottish Child payment, Scotland is the only part of the UK where child poverty is falling, a success which is, of course, being trumpeted from the rooftops by BBC Scotland. Figures released by the Scottish Government in March show that, compared with the previous year's statistics, relative child poverty in 2023-24 reduced from 26% to 22% in Scotland, while absolute child poverty fell from 23% to 17%. UK Poverty statistics, published the same day, showed levels of relative child poverty at 31% and absolute child poverty at 26%, both nine percentage points higher than in Scotland. However, the figures showed that interim targets to reduce child poverty in Scotland were missed. The Scottish Government had aimed to have relative child poverty at 18% and absolute child poverty at 14% by 2024. Naturally, this is the aspect of the figures that BBC Scotland chose to focus on.
The National
21-04-2025
- Business
- The National
Anas Sarwar rules out Scottish Labour backing 'wrong' wealth tax
In an interview with Martin Roche on the Glasgow local Glad Radio, the Scottish Labour leader refused to support proposals for a tax on wealth which campaigners say would help to level the playing field in a society which has become more and more unequal. Tax Justice UK has proposed a 2% annual tax on assets above £10 million, which they said would affect 0.04% of the UK population and raise £24 billion a year. Last month, various Labour MPs spoke in support of a wealth tax, saying the proposals were preferable to the £5bn in annual cuts to disability benefits outlined by the UK Labour Government. READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Shift tax focus from income to wealth to see real change Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: 'You cannot cut your way to growth. A wealth tax of 2% on assets over £10m would raise £24bn per year. 'When the government talks about 'tough choices' – why is this choice never on the table?' Speaking to Sarwar for Glad Radio, Roche raised similar concerns. 'An issue of inequality and growing financial inequality…,' he said, only for Sarwar to interrupt: 'Economic insecurity, financial inequality, social inequality, absolutely.' (Image: PA) Roche then went on: 'What I could afford in buying a house 40 years ago, my children who are in their 20s and early 30s now find it tremendously difficult, and it's a common problem in many parts of the world, but it's a particularly common problem here. 'Many of the arguments, of course, are that the rich have sucked up vast sums of wealth from around the world, and those in the middle and those at the bottom are now finding things that were accepted to be normal, unaffordable, but yet Labour refuses to introduce a wealth tax.' Roche said it was 'difficult to reconcile' a lot of what Sarwar had been saying about financial inequalities with Labour's refusal to countenance a wealth tax. The Scottish Labour leader responded: 'I think you've identified the right problem, and the right feeling after a solution is found, but I think it's the wrong solution.' READ MORE: UK facing 'unprecedented' politics as Reform UK top polls, John Curtice says 'Taxing the rich is the wrong solution?' Roche asked. Sarwar replied: 'No, no, no, no. I, because I think you've oversimplified it. So if you look at the last budget, so I'm all for progressive taxation. I believe in progressive taxation. 'If you look at the last budget, for all the criticism people make of Rachel Reeves's budget, it actually was the most redistributive budget in probably two decades, if you look at who got the most and who paid the most. 'But what has not yet creeped through into people's lives is how it impacts them in terms of the cost of living crisis, how it feels in terms of their own level of security or insecurity, and how it, what it means for their communities and their children.' Sarwar said there was 'a generational promise that's currently being broken' and that Scottish parents were no longer able to guarantee that their children would have better life opportunities than they did. He insisted that 'how you sort that is not a 'you're in government for nine months, you've got the magic potion and the magic portion is delivered and everything is fine''. Sarwar went on: 'It takes time, it takes difficult decisions, and I think this UK Labour Government is making many right decisions and is putting us in a firmer direction, but there is still work to do, and there's loads of work to do in Scotland.' Elsewhere on the radio interview, Sarwar was asked about recent polling which has found a major lead for Yes – and questioned on why support for the Union is not 'solid' after Labour's sweeping General Election victory in 2024. Sarwar said he had some 'serious questions about that poll, but it's for pollsters and pundits and commentators to talk about that'. READ MORE: Richard Murphy: Here's where we'll have a head start after a Yes vote He went on: 'I've not focused for the last four years on opinion polls, I've focused on winning. People may remember that when I took on this job four years ago, we were 32 points behind the SNP. 'No one gave us a hope in hell of beating the SNP in the General Election last year, let alone having a Labour government. 'Not only did we beat them, we beat them decisively and I'm confident we'll do the same again next year, but we've got to do the hard work and earn people's trust and earn their support and continue to re-earn their trust and re-earn their support.'
The Independent
13-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Rocky path ahead if politicians kowtow to Trump and Farage, warns Sturgeon
The world will be on a 'rocky path' if politicians 'kowtow' to the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. Movements in the style of the two men have seen increased political success in recent years, but Ms Sturgeon has urged 'progressive, liberal people who care about democracy' to fight back. Speaking to community radio station Glad Radio, she said politicians in the UK have a 'choice' to make regarding fending off the threat of Mr Farage's Reform UK and its surging poll ratings – to copy them or be an alternative. If progressive, liberal people who care about democracy kowtow to the Donald Trumps and Nigel Farages of this world, then we're on a pretty rocky path Nicola Sturgeon While she said work should continue to try and build a relationship with the US given its status in the world, Ms Sturgeon said: 'If we don't stand up now and fight for democracy, fight for a view of the world that values everybody for who they are and says that it's right to support people from excluded groups in society to be more involved. 'If we don't stand up for all of that, if we don't be very mindful of the power of China and Russia and the changing dynamics in the world, if we don't absolutely get to grips with the climate crisis, then the world we're going to bequeath to those that come after us is not one that I would have ever wanted to contemplate. 'So this next few years, if progressive, liberal people who care about democracy kowtow to the Donald Trumps and Nigel Farages of this world, then we're on a pretty rocky path. 'I hope that's not what happens, I hope we see a coming together of those forces to stand up and actually defend the form and the vision of the world we want to see.' Mr Farage has been a key ally of the US president, having spoken at rallies in America in support of him, with Reform UK unofficially aligned with Mr Trump's party and seeing poll numbers suggest multiple MSPs could be sent to Holyrood by the party following next year's election. 'Do you try to tackle Reform and Nigel Farage and their pretty odious form of politics by imitating them, trying to be more like them?' Ms Sturgeon said. 'Even if you don't have a concern in principle about that, and I really do, if you offer people a pale imitation of the real thing, they're always just going to vote for the real thing. 'I think that's what (Prime Minister) Keir Starmer's trying to do, he's trying to see off the threat of Reform by being a bit more like them and I think that's a recipe for failure and disaster. 'The other option politicians have is to stand up and be the alternative.' The former first minister resigned in 2023, shocking the political landscape at the start of what would be a torrid 18 months for the SNP. Many have speculated the polarising debate around gender reforms proposed by her government – and subsequently blocked by Westminster – were a factor in her decision to quit. Asked if she felt she had spent too much time on the issue, Ms Sturgeon described the assertion as 'bunkum'. She said: 'If people are talking about trying to deliver greater dignity and respect for that tiny, tiny proportion of the population who are trans – I didn't spend much time quantitatively on that, but do I regret trying to reduce stigma and discrimination and trauma and heartache for that tiny number of people in our society? No – because of one of the things that burns passionately in me is a belief in equality, a hatred of discrimination and prejudice. 'It often strikes me – obviously not everybody, I'm talking about only some people – but some of my loudest critics on that issue are the ones that don't talk about anything else other than that issue, rather than me doing that. 'I think people should sometimes take a step back and ask themselves if what they're reflecting on to me is something in their own sense of the world.'
