Starmer hit the airwaves this morning to sell his latest (19th) change of plan. As Guido mapped yesterday…
Last week at the CBI conference Rachel Reeves pledged there would be no more tax hikes sending Number 10’s comms team into meltdown. Reeves and Johnathan Reynolds both bailed on that promise earlier this week and now the public gets it straight from the horse’s mouth. Starmer admitted this morning that he couldn’t rule out further tax hikes…
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Starmer said fresh taxes rises weren’t “the plan” (co-conspirators have seen how his previous ‘plans’ have worked out), and that Labour’s “intention” was to tackle the difficult issues head-on in this budget without “coming back for more”. But he admitted that “circumstances unforeseen” meant he couldn’t rule out more pain for the public. Leaving the door wide open for yet more hits to Brits’ wallets…
“What I can’t do is say to you there are no circumstances unforeseen in the future that wouldn’t lead to any changes at all. Because if you just look at Covid and the Ukraine situation, everybody knows there are things that we can’t see now. But I can tell you our intention was to do the tough stuff in that Budget and not to keep coming back… it’s tough but fair, but at least we know now with certainty and we can plan.”
Guido has some faint memory of Starmer saying there were “no plans” for tax hikes before…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”