Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has doubled down in his attacks on Keir Starmer following Monday’s polite broadside. He told the Today Programme this morning that while Starmer is doing a “good job”, Sarwar isn’t living in “denial“. A nice way of saying “I’ve seen his poll ratings, please forget about that dud”…
“On many measures he’s doing a good job but I’m not going to live in denial. For many people right now in the public the Prime Minister of the UK is not popular. I believe I can win in defiance of it.”
He again insisted the most helpful thing Starmer and his Cabinet could do to help in May’s Scottish election is to just stay in Westminster, rather than heading north for campaign visits. Starmer is doing such a “good job” that Sarwar doesn’t even want him to cross the border…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”