No. 10 feel like they’ve got Labour in a stranglehold when it comes to selling their national insurance rise to the public; they can boast about increasing NHS spending, while still relying on the public to feel that, while taxes are rising, Labour would raise them more. Perhaps it’s this bind that’s resulted in two consecutive days of Labour ducking the all-important morning media round. The only voice that’s been heard, and proffering an alternative social care plan, has been Andy Burnham. A dangerous vacuum for Sir Keir to allow a potential leadership rival to step into…
Meanwhile, both the Labour left and right have been getting increasingly tetchy about their party vacating the field and allowing Boris, Rishi and Saj to dominate the new policy’s sales pitch:
The Tories being the party of the NHS *and* a party of lower tax than Labour (even when they increase them) is a real sweet spot. Fair play to @Keir_Starmer - he’s done it again!
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) September 7, 2021
Labour’s official reaction to the NHS levy is worryingly amateur. In criticising the Tories for putting up taxes for the NHS, are we saying we wouldn’t? If we would, & we don’t like this levy, which other taxes would we put up? None has been named
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) September 8, 2021
The voters notice these things
Guido can only presume Sir Keir’s got a killer line of questioning prepared for PMQs…
