Keir Starmer breaks silence on ‘tough’ Budget as tax raids loom | Politics | News

Keir Starmer has warned Labor MPs that Rachel Reeves will make “tough” decisions on tax rises and spending cuts.

The Prime Minister insisted his Government would take “fair” decisions to renew our country.

But Chancellor Ms Reeves faces a desperate struggle to raise more money to ease Britain’s economic woes.

Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have already estimated that the Chancellor will need to find £22bn to regain the £10bn gap he has left against previously self-imposed debt targets.

A larger-than-expected drop in productivity could cause this figure to rise further, but better-than-expected inflation numbers and a slight improvement in some growth forecasts could ease some of the pressure.

Sir Keir blamed Brexit and his predecessors in Number 10 for the economic chaos but hinted there would be more suffering for millions of people.

Speaking to those in the background behind closed doors tonight, the Prime Minister said: “The Budget will be a Labor Budget built on Labor values.

“This will protect public services like the NHS. It will reduce our national debt and improve the cost of living.”

“We had the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year, but everyone knows the Budget takes place in a difficult economic environment. It is clear that the long-term impact of the Conservative Party’s austerity, the failed Brexit deal and the pandemic on Britain’s productivity is even worse than we feared.”

“Faced with this, we will make difficult but fair decisions to renew our country and build it for the long term. A Labor government that does Labor’s choices.

“The Conservatives and Reformation would return us to austerity. The Conservatives produce fantastic figures, but everyone knows they will destroy the NHS and our schools. They should never be trusted again with the economy.”

“Rather than taking the tough, serious decisions needed to renew this country, Reformation’s massive spending cuts will mean cuts to the NHS, which Farage wants to privatise. He wants to cut the minimum wage while giving gifts to billionaires. It’s clear where his priorities are.”

Ms Reeves is said to be considering a proposal from the Resolution Foundation, a think tank with close links to the Treasury, to increase income tax by 2p per pound while cutting National Insurance by the same amount.

The foundation framed the measure as a “transitional” plan that would help eliminate “inequity” in the system by spreading the tax burden across a broader group, including retirees and homeowners.

The move would be a clear breach of Labour’s election manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance for “working people”, which the government has recently refused to say still applies.

Asked on Tuesday whether the Budget would deliver on that commitment, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the Chancellor would “strike the right balance” between funding public services and stimulating growth.

But No 10 also warned of “tough but fair” decisions on taxes, insisting action would be taken to keep taxes “as low as possible”.

“I think we have said that the choices we make in the budget will be guided by our values ​​and our commitment to building a fairer economy that rewards people who work and work for working people,” the spokesman said.

We will keep public spending under tight control to keep taxes, inflation and interest rates as low as possible.

“We will make tough but fair choices on taxes to ensure everyone, including business and the wealthiest, contributes their fair share to funding our public services.”