Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned that Labour’s first autumn budget, due on Wednesday 30th October, is ‘going to be painful’ for the public – indicating that the government will be raising taxes in a bid to plug the £22bn ‘black hole’ in the country’s finances.
The Labour leader, who assumed the position of Prime Minister last month following the party’s general election win, admitted he would be making ‘big asks’ of the public in his first major speech as premier.
Speaking from the Rose Garden at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said: “We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in. Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.”
“In relation to working people, income tax, national insurance, VAT, we will not increase tax. I say again what I said before the election, we have to get away from the idea that the only levers are more tax and more spending.”
Starmer also reiterated that economic growth and wealth creation was the ‘number one priority of this Labour Government’ amid a slate of planning reforms and the establishment of Great British Energy.
He also made reference to public sector pay deals, which have ended disruptive strike action that have plagued the country in recent times, arguing: “We have done more in seven weeks than the last government did in seven years.”
The announcement comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves – who is currently slated to receive the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) initial assessment of the state of the UK economy in early September – warned last month that the public should expect tax hikes in the October.
Source: Harding, LaToya. Yahoo Finance. August 2024. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/keir-starmer-autumn-budget-painful-104107886.html .