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Keir Starmer says Labor will have no ‘tax surprises’ in manifesto
Labor hon Keir Starmer reiterated his party’s commitment not to raise taxes, despite reports from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that tax increases would be necessary to maintain current levels of departmental funding.
Sir Keir told reporters in Essex:
We will not raise taxes on working people. This means we will not increase income tax, national insurance or VAT.
We will be launching our manifesto very soon and there will be no tax surprises in it because all of our plans are fully funded and fully priced and none of them require tax increases beyond what we have already announced.
What we have to do, just to accept the challenge that has been put before us, is that we have to grow the economy. We need to make sure that the economy and the standard of living across the country grows, and so the first step in government, if we can serve our country, will be to stabilize and grow our economy.
We are not going back to austerity.
Key events
A £2-an-hour pay rise could help tackle the shortage of carers, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said.
He told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “If you were paying this extra money to carers, I think people would choose not to work in supermarkets or Amazon warehouses and things like that because they would feel that the hard work of being a carer would be duly rewarded.”
Sir Ed, who has previously spoken about his own responsibilities caring for his disabled son, added:
There are millions of people who have similar experiences to me and my family where they do a lot of the caregiving.
If we support carers who care for their loved ones at home, then in fact much of the care will be done by families.
If you’re more generous with respite care, with carer’s allowance and helping people work so they can balance care and work – we’ve got the full package, so yes, it’s about paying carers better and higher rating for them.
It is also [about] caring for the millions of caregivers.
He said one of the reasons for Conservatives have done things “so badly” is that they have relied on people coming from other countries.
Sir Ed added:
They’ve issued hundreds of thousands of healthcare visas and these people are doing a fantastic job and I think we should recognize that, but imagine if we paid more to healthcare workers – I don’t think we’d have to issue all those visas.
I think a lot of people in this country would be more inclined to work in the care sector.
The Labor leader, Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have arrived in Essex where they will set out how Labor plans to tackle anti-social behavior if it wins the general election.
They will also meet with activists and victims of anti-social events.
Labor is promising new police powers to swiftly dispose of noisy filth and four-wheelers causing havoc in neighborhoods as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
Keir StarmerThe party also wants to increase on-the-spot fines for using off-road bikes or ignoring officers’ instructions to stop to just £100.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Coopersaid that if Labor wins, the general election police will be given the power to take the bikes, which are a “nightmare for communities”, off the streets for good.
Under plans outlined in the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Express, police will be able to dispose of anti-socially used off-road bikes within 48 hours.
Currently, bikes confiscated by officers must be held for two weeks before disposal, with the high cost incentivizing forces to auction them off and risk returning them to offenders.
Labor will also extend notices to close drug dens from 48 hours to 72 hours, giving police more time to shut them down in court.
Under the party’s proposals, data-driven hotspot management would target the most prolific anti-social offenders.
Cooper said: “Noisy off-road motorbikes driving through streets and neighborhoods, deliberately disturbing and intimidating local residents, are a nightmare for communities. Yet all too often the culprits get away again and again, and even when the police do take action, the bikes end up back on the street.
You can read the whole news here.
Labour’s shadow justice minister, Shabana Mahmouddefended his party against “conservative change”.
In response to a comment made by the co-chair of the Green Party Carla Denier during Friday’s BBC seven-a-side debate which Labor have “changed into the Conservatives”, Mahmoud said: “These are exactly the things you would expect from some of the smaller parties”.
She told Sky News: “There is a billion-pound difference between us and the Tories because we will make different decisions.
“For example, by charging VAT on private school fees, we will make foreigners pay their fair share. We will make sure the oil and gas giants pay their fair share with the appropriate windfall tax. That is a big difference between us and the Tory party.
Mahmoud said Labor would make prisons “of national importance”.
She said: “From day one, a Labor government will consider prisons to be of national importance. This means that the planning decision is ultimately made by ministers, rather than going through the usual local authority planning process.
“So we can move much faster than this government has allowed itself to get bogged down in backbench complaints and the planning process so that we can deliver the full 20,000 [prison places].”
Nigel Farage has defended his claim that Rishi Sunak’s early exit from D-Day commemorations in France demonstrated he did not understand “our culture”.
Asked if he was trying to emphasize Sunak’s British-Asian background, Farage pointed to the contribution of the Commonwealth troops and suggested he was talking about the Prime Minister’s “class” and “privilege”.
The UK reform leader told BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuensberg: “I know what you’re getting at – 40% of our contribution to the First World War and the Second World War came from the Commonwealth.
“It’s completely separate from class, from privilege, from how ordinary people feel in this country. He revealed this, I think impressively, when he left Normandy early.
“And there are now millions and millions of people out there who were Conservative voters, traditional Conservative voters, not red walls, who are now thinking, ‘Do we continue to support Conservatives or do we support reform?’
“I think that’s going to be the acid test of this election.”
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said Labor and Conservatives “I don’t want to talk about the scale of the challenge they face” if they win the election.
He told Sky News:
Both countries have committed themselves to what I think is a rather strange fiscal rule whereby they want debt reduction.
They don’t want to talk about tax increases because it scares voters.
Maybe they’re just hoping for luck.
Labor has told Unite it will create enough jobs to cover potential losses in the oil and gas sector after the union rejected the party’s manifesto, Labor shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmoud said.
She told Sky News:
Unite has some policy areas where they would probably like us to go further, but they have not pushed any of these issues to a vote.
[Unite] we recognize that change is indeed coming, the issue is speed and transition, for which we have been able to provide assurances for plans backed by independent experts.
We will create over 100,000 jobs as part of our plans. These are good quality jobs in the same sector.
Asked if Unite’s leadership trusted those assurances, Mahmoud said:
This is a matter for Unite and their own internal management of their union.
Minister defends ‘deeply patriotic’ Sunak after PM’s decision to pull out of D-Day anniversary events
Secretary for Work and Pensions Mel Stride told Sky News Rishi Sunak “deeply regrets” his decision to leave the D-Day 80th anniversary events early.
Speaking of Trevor Phillips this morning Stride said the prime minister was “deeply patriotic” and pledged to support veterans after he was heavily criticized for leaving France ahead of other world leaders to film a television interview.
Stride said:
He has admitted that he made a mistake. He deeply regrets that he apologized unequivocally for this.
The Prime Minister admitted that he was wrong. He apologized unequivocally for this.
And I think he will feel that personally, very deeply, because he is a deeply patriotic person. He will be deeply embarrassed by what happened.
Stride also said Sunak would “absolutely” lead the party into the July 4 election, rejecting suggestions the Conservative leader could be replaced before polling day.
“It shouldn’t be about anything other than that,” he said.
Welcome and introductory summary
In the third Sunday of the election campaign, today will not be a day off for the political parties fighting for votes.
sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper are in the east of England where they will set out Labour’s plans to tackle anti-social behaviour. While in Scotland, First Minister John Sweeney will campaign with SNP candidates in Paisley and the Scottish Tory deputy leader Megan Gallagher will come out with the candidate for Perth and Kinross-shire Luke Graham.
And in the studio, Laura Kuensberg is joined by the Minister for Work and Pensions Mel Strideshadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmoudreform leader in the United Kingdom Nigel Farage and leader of the SNP Westminster Stephen Flynnwith a former Minister of the Interior Amber Ruddgeneral secretary of the Union of Firefighters Matt Wrack and businessman John Cadwell on the panel.
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