Latest news with #LouiseHaigh
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Starmer's former transport secretary calls for wealth tax
Sir Keir Starmer's former transport secretary has called for Labour to break its manifesto promises and introduce a wealth tax to pay for higher spending. Louise Haigh – who quit the Cabinet in November after it emerged that she had misled police a decade ago – urged her former colleagues to 'rip up our self-imposed tax rules and deliver a proper wealth tax'. She said such a tax would provide 'the means to invest in the NHS, schools, and our communities'. Ms Haigh's intervention – the most radical proposal yet from a senior party figure – is the latest call from the Labour Left for Rachel Reeves to raise taxes rather than cut spending as she grapples with a worsening fiscal crisis. Speaking at a conference organised by Compass, a Left-wing Labour pressure group, she said: 'We must acknowledge that our tax system is perverse. It punishes earned income but barely touches the real driver of inequality, wealth. 'If we do that, we can finally move beyond a broken model where working people's wages are topped up by tax credits and benefits, leaving bad employers and landlords to profit. We can move from a system of handouts for the rich to real investment for everyone else.' Labour is grappling with a worsening fiscal situation, backbench rebellions and tanking approval ratings as Nigel Farage's Reform UK surges in the polls. Ministers continue to tussle with the Chancellor over potential cuts to departmental budgets as part of the spending review. The Treasury blocked bids for more money from a number of departments, including a request from Angela Rayner for a larger social housing budget. Last month, the Telegraph revealed that, in a private memo to the Chancellor, Ms Rayner had called for a raft of tax rises before the Spring Statement, and internal pressure on Sir Keir has led to a U-turns on cuts to the winter fuel allowance. In last year's General Election manifesto, Labour pledged not to raise National Insurance or income tax if it got into government. At the October Budget, Ms Reeves raised National Insurance contributions for employers in order to raise £25 billion in taxes. The party claimed the move did not break its manifesto promise. The Chancellor is now grappling with a further puzzle as the Government signalled that it would reverse, in whole or in part, both the cut to the winter fuel allowance and the two-child benefit cap. Such a move is projected to cost the Treasury up to £5 billion. The Government is also facing a large backbench rebellion against planned cuts to disability benefits, which were intended to raise around £5 billion a year in revenue. Any softening of the welfare cuts to appease Labour MPs would increase Ms Reeves's difficulties if she is to stick to her fiscal rules and keep her manifesto commitment not to raise taxes.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour's poll ratings have plummeted – so is Starmer's future in question?
A lesson in comms for any prime minister: when asked whether you will serve another term, try to express some enthusiasm at the prospect. When at the end of his first term, David Cameron breezily told a reporter he would not serve a third, he inadvertently fired the starting gun for leadership jostling between his potential successors. Keir Starmer fell into the same trap this month when he was asked whether he would fight the next election. 'You're getting way ahead of me,' he said. This equivocal response triggered such a frenzy of speculation that the prime minister quickly gave another statement saying: 'Of course I am going to stand at the next election. I've always said this is a decade of national renewal that I intend to lead.' But the damage was done. Starmer's ambivalence fuelled suspicions that he has not entirely made up his mind on whether to seek re-election past 2029. The deep dissatisfaction among Labour MPs with the direction and performance of the government, which has spread to even some of Starmer's most loyal supporters, has created a febrile atmosphere where his future is being called into question. More than any other issue, parliamentary discontent has crystallised over the government's £5bn of welfare cuts, particularly cuts to support for disabled people. Nearly 200 Labour MPs are said to oppose them ahead of a crunch vote expected in June. Critics on the left of the Labour party have become increasingly vocal. Louise Haigh, the former cabinet minister, has called for a wealth tax and warned against a lurch to the right. This week John McDonnell, who now sits as an independent, urged the Labour grassroots to mount a challenge against Starmer and said the party was at risk. In the mainstream of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP), many MPs are unhappy but they also agree on one thing – Starmer is safe in his position for as long as he wants it. 'The Labour party doesn't do regicide,' one said. Another Labour MP said 'Keir is totally safe' because although there is 'universal discontent, there is total fragmentation over the cause of discontent'. Some MPs feel the government needs to be more left-wing on the economy and more progressive in its rhetoric; others want a bigger crackdown on irregular migration; those in rural areas are bruised from the farm tax changes; yet another group feel the problem lies with the Downing Street operation. 'People returned from the locals with their own lessons about what is going wrong,' a government source said. 'Depending on whether they're losing votes to the Lib Dems, to the Greens or getting humped by Reform, they came back with somewhat different asks of what they think could solve the problem.' While the breadth and depth of discontent is remarkable less than a year after a landslide win, there are a number of factors behind it. Starmer's popularity has plummeted at a historic rate and the fact that MPs' margins were so slim means they feel the threat personally. The frontbench appointments so far have led some to conclude they have little to no chance of promotion. 'Incumbent MPs feel super locked out. And some of the newcomers have a relatively good sense of whether they are in or out,' a Labour MP said. There is more pain to come with a difficult spending review that is expected to make deep cuts to unprotected departments such as education. 'That's not going to improve the mood,' a government source said. In this febrile context it is no surprise that ambitious cabinet ministers will be assessing their options. The single event that has fuelled speculation over Starmer's position – and reopened an old rift – has been the leak of a memo written by Angela Rayner setting out her alternative tax-raising proposals to Rachel Reeves. Despite her denials, Rayner is widely blamed for the leak – not least because it improves her standing in the party. 'It means she can say, 'Remember that point of difficulty? I put a mark in the sand,'' one MP said. 'The PLP is aware she is making a case at least – even if she's not being successful – for some slightly more progressive measures,' another source said. Rayner has been lending a sympathetic ear to Labour MPs over teas and lunches over the past few months. Wes Streeting, the telegenic health secretary, is also the perennial subject of leadership speculation and has a cadre of parliamentary supporters. 'It's already deeply unfashionable to say anybody other than Angela Rayner can be the next Labour leader,' one of them said. 'But Wes is the only one at the moment – admittedly helped by large amounts of cash – who can turn around and say, 'oh look, delivery.'' Some MPs are unconvinced. 'What does Wes want to be PM for? What does he want the country to look like? I don't know the answer to that question – I just know that he wants to be PM,' one said. The next few weeks are key for Starmer's government. The spending review on 11 June will be totemic for Reeves, whose actions as chancellor have decimated her popularity in the party. The vote on the welfare cuts is now expected later in June, with government figures planning for the bill to pass all its Commons stages before the summer recess. And some around Starmer are pushing for a cabinet reshuffle to be held before MPs break for their constituencies in late July, to give ministers time to bed into their new briefs before the autumn budget and party conference. There are already moves afoot to ensure that the party's annual gathering in Liverpool is populated with loyal delegates and that awkward motions are kept off the conference floor as far as possible. 'The reason Keir was able to change the party was exercising an exceptional grip on the candidates process. That micro grip continues to exert itself,' a Labour MP said. 'It's quite an important few weeks and there's a lot of hurdles to get over, but there is a scenario in which those go relatively well, welfare is done and actually it doesn't look too bad going into the summer,' a government source said. If things do turn around and the economic situation shows improvement MPs will start to feel more chipper. One said: 'Things are still pretty early on in parliament, and the solace people have is that living standards are trending in the right direction.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour spending review must be ‘economic reset', Louise Haigh to say
Next month's spending review must be an 'economic reset' based on a bold wealth tax and higher public investment, the former cabinet minister Louise Haigh is to argue, as Keir Starmer faces renewed pressure from within Labour to change course. Haigh's comments come as Andy Burnham called for Labour to 're-establish itself unequivocally once again as the party of working-class ambition' with ambitious offerings on housing and education. Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, will say ministers should allow mayors to build on public land, and set a target for the point at which more new social homes are being built than existing ones are sold off. Haigh and Burnham will make their interventions in speeches at an event taking place on Saturday organised by the Labour-allied thinktank Compass. Haigh, who quit the cabinet in November after it emerged she had been convicted of fraud over a missing work phone, will reiterate her call for a wealth tax after the local election results from 1 May, which she called 'a warning' from voters that they wanted bolder policies. She will say: 'The spending review must be a moment for an economic reset. I welcome the prime minister's review of winter fuel changes but we must go further, ripping up our self-imposed tax rules and taxing the country's vast wealth.' Haigh will say the current tax system 'punishes earned income but barely touches the sides of the real driver of inequality – wealth'. It is time to 'finally move beyond a broken model where working people's wages are topped up by tax credits and benefits, leaving bad employers and landlords to profit', she will say. 'It's about moving from a system of handouts for the rich to real investment for everyone else. We need real reform: a proper wealth tax that rewards work, closes loopholes and finally gives us the means to invest in the NHS, schools and our communities.' According to extracts of his speech released in advance, Burnham will say the spending review 'will define the rest of this parliament', and he will call for Labour to focus on ways it can positively combat the electoral threat from Reform UK. Burnham will say: 'Rather than standing for the status quo, the time has come for the party to re-establish itself unequivocally once again as the party of working-class ambition, shedding the perception in the Midlands and the north of a London-centric, university-oriented party.' This would require a particular focus on housing and education, to particularly address 'the single biggest cause of Britain's modern malaise: a housing crisis caused not by immigration but by ideology'. The Thatcher-era right-to-buy policy, without investment in new social homes, 'shattered the foundations on which generations of working-class British families built better lives', Burnham will say. 'Labour's clarion call should be to free Britain from the grip of the housing crisis. In this spending review, working with mayors in the big city regions, it should set the date by which each will reach the crucial tipping point of building more social homes than they are losing. 'This is the moment when, instead of tightening its grip, the housing crisis starts to ease. To do that, the spending review should unlock public land for mayors to use to build a new generation of council homes at pace – akin to the drive of the postwar Labour government.' Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, has already announced plans to restrict right to buy and has pushed for more investment in social homes, but as yet this has done little to ease the housing crisis. Other speakers at the Compass-run event will include Mark Drakeford, the former first minister of Wales, the Labour MPs Rachael Maskell and Simon Opher, and the junior energy minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh.
The Independent
10-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Starmer is celebrating big wins on the global stage – but Labour must still beware the threat at home
The value of investments can go down as well as up. What follows is for illustrative purposes only. It is not a prediction. But it is possible to see how the Labour government could collapse over the next few years. It seems unfair and even tasteless to mention it after Keir Starmer has succeeded beyond the dreams of his Conservative predecessors in negotiating trade agreements with India, the US and – on 19 May – the EU. The most populous market in the world, the richest market in the world and the market with which we do the most trade. The nay-sayers and defeatists have been seen off. Those who said a trade deal with India couldn't be done without issuing more visas. Those who said what a disaster it was to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. And those who asked scornfully why the EU should give us anything. All wrong. The prime minister has delivered by patient, pragmatic negotiation small but tangible gains for British living standards. He was entitled to tell The Independent in an interview on Friday: 'Many people have talked about doing a UK-US deal and it's Donald Trump and Keir Starmer who have gone and done it.' Gratitude is rare in democratic politics, not that Starmer could have expected it from Louise Haigh, whom he sacked as transport secretary last year. She has demanded a ' course correction ' in an interview on GB News. She said the local election results were so bad 'I felt I had the responsibility to speak out and echo what a lot of my Labour colleagues are feeling at the moment, but don't feel like they have the platform to be able to do that'. How selfless of her, speaking out on behalf of those Labour MPs who cannot say anything because they still hope for government jobs, the prime minister will no doubt think. But what should worry Starmer more is the number of Labour MPs who don't actually need Haigh to speak for them, but are prepared to give interviews saying for themselves that the winter fuel payment cut was a terrible idea and to sign letters saying that it is 'impossible to support' Liz Kendall's plans for welfare savings. A letter to The Guardian on Thursday attracted more than 40 signatures, but there is another draft that is apparently being circulated that is said to have more than 80 names on it. The significance of that number is that the government's working majority is 165, which means that it could be defeated if 83 Labour MPs vote against it. We are a long way from that happening. When the vote on the welfare changes is held, probably next month, there is likely to be a large rebellion but not enough to block them. The optimistic precedent for the prime minister is that 47 Labour MPs voted against Tony Blair's government on a similar issue – a cut to lone parent benefit – just seven months after its landslide election. But Blair was blessed with a growing economy and healthy public finances, and Gordon Brown was able to reverse that cut with a scheme for child tax credits. Starmer and Rachel Reeves are in a different position. Since the welfare savings were announced in the spring statement in March, the economic outlook has worsened. Although the US-UK trade deal was a negotiating triumph for Starmer, it only reduced some of the damage imposed by Trump's trade war. When Labour MPs say they want the government to change course, they mean they want it to spend more money. They want to 'reverse the cuts'. But Reeves is going to have to make more cuts and probably raise more taxes in the autumn Budget. At which point it is imaginable that discipline among Labour MPs will start to break down. This is the disaster scenario for Starmer. He set out the three priorities for his government after the local elections: 'More money in your pocket, lower NHS waiting lists, lower immigration numbers.' The frightening question that Labour MPs ask is: what if we deliver only half out of three? The NHS is the only one that is moving in the right direction, and even if the improvement picks up speed, the backlogs left over from the pandemic are so huge that long waits will still be the norm at the next election. It seems unlikely that the economy will come to Labour's rescue this time; as for immigration, the gangs are still unsmashed and The Times reports internal Home Office projections suggesting that legal immigration is going to be higher than previously thought. That is why it is not alarmist of Haigh to describe Labour's poor showing in the local elections as 'the canary in the coalmine'. Those elections, in which Labour did worse than four years ago, when things were so bad that Starmer thought about resigning as Labour leader, could be brushed off as an (early) mid-term protest vote if there were a realistic prospect that the voters would soon feel better off, with a functioning NHS and immigration under control. That is why I wrote last week that the prospect of Nigel Farage becoming prime minister has to be taken seriously. If Labour cannot put right the years of Tory failure on the cost of living, the NHS and immigration, the voters will turn to a third option, and it won't be the Liberal Democrats. Haigh sees the threat from Farage clearly enough. Her answer is to expand employment rights: 'You know, banning fire and rehire is just almost as popular with Reform voters as it is with Labour ones. But they're just not hearing it at the moment because we're not taking the fight to them.' She has a point, while avoiding a larger one. Immigration is the issue that drove the Brexit vote nearly a decade ago now; it is the issue that destroyed the Conservatives last year; if Labour doesn't get it right, it could be swept aside too. Worrying as it must be for Starmer to see so many Labour MPs opposing the government so early in the parliament, it may be that fear of Nigel Farage as prime minister is the only thing that is preventing Labour MPs sliding into civil war.
Telegraph
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Phillipson isn't a victim of sexism, she's just useless
All governments mess up. But why is Labour so chronically incapable of accepting responsibility for the choices it makes? Everything is always someone else's fault: nearly a year into the Starmer administration our economic torpor is still the Tories' doing. So are the record boat crossings, legal migration, defence spending – as though Labour ever had any of the answers to these problems. If this is true collectively, it's even more so at the individual level. Bridget Phillipson's cheerleaders – yes, there are some – are now crying 'sexism' following rumours the Education Secretary may lose her portfolio in a reshuffle. Boo hoo. It is deeply cynical when politicians and their supporters retreat into gender politics to defend their own incompetence and duff policies. On Newsnight this week Louise Haigh accused Downing Street of 'misogynistic' briefings against 'female northern MPs '. Haigh, as you have probably forgotten, is the former Transport Secretary who was forced to resign after it emerged she pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago, and who caved into rail union demands without demanding any productivity improvements for taxpayers in return. She is also a female northern MP. Isn't it more likely these two ministers just aren't very good, than that they are victims of misogynistic smears by the 'boys' of Number 10? In political and policy terms, Phillipson's record is dismal. She pressed ahead with her tax raid on private schools despite warnings it would lead 100 of them to close. The Education Secretary couldn't even stick to her flimsy rationale that the money raised would drive up standards in the state sector. Amid accusations it was simply another episode of antediluvian class warfare, she haughtily posted on X: 'Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery... Our students need careers advice more than private schools need Astroturf pitches.' Universities are on the brink of a funding crisis to which she has no solutions (let them fail, I say, but it's hardly good news for the party which gave us the 50 per cent target). The dreadful Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will strip schools of the freedoms that have been pivotal to their success. Pay, staffing – all would be dragged back under Whitehall's unaccountable control. When the Tories left office, English children were among the best at maths and English in the OECD PISA league tables. Phillipson isn't fixing what is broken, she is taking a wrecking ball to a system that has done more to help kids from lower-income backgrounds than almost any other because it doesn't fit into her deranged worldview. As for Labour's planned curriculum review, led by 'professor of Education and Social Justice' Becky Francis, it's less focused on excellence than it is conformity to the dumbed-down sensibilities of the Blob. Working-class children are being denied the opportunity to study classics, after Bridget Philistine decided to cut Latin funding halfway through the academic year. Free breakfast clubs are nanny statism in its purest form – expensive, unnecessary, feeding the idea the state would do a better job of parenting than mothers and fathers. Then there was the time Phillipson advocated 'working from home' teachers and tried to dump free speech protections for universities. The Education Secretary may consider herself heir to Anthony Crosland, the politician most associated with the demise of grammars. Though united in their hostility towards any school that may give some children a better start in life, the similarities end there. Many of us think Crosland was a disaster for education, but at least he wasn't in the pocket of the unions as Phillipson is; on the contrary, he opposed their addiction to strikes and refusal to reform. He was a considerable figure who had his own following and a consistent political position. And he moved on to bigger things. Phillipson is more likely to vanish without trace.
