UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Tuesday that his new government’s first budget in just over two months will be “painful”, urging the country to “accept short-term pain for long-term good”.
Starmer, whose Labor Party won an overwhelming parliamentary majority on July 4, used his first major speech since then to set the stage for the much-anticipated budget event on October 30.
He also used the address, from the garden of Downing Street, to attack the ousted Conservatives, repeating claims they had left a £22 billion ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances.
“There’s a budget coming up in October and it’s going to be painful,” Starmer said.
“Those with the broadest shoulders will have to bear the heaviest burden,” he added, hinting that taxes will rise for some after October 30.
Labor has pledged not to raise taxes on “working people”, which appears to rule out increases in income tax, other social security rates and VAT.
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But there is growing speculation that other taxes, such as capital gains, could be targeted.
Starmer insisted that the UK must look beyond attrition and that growing the economy remains the “number one mission”.
But he also warned that his government’s fiscal legacy would not be easily fixed.
“We’re going to have to make tough decisions, I didn’t take care of a £22bn black hole,” he added.
Political opponents argued that the government was aware of the country’s perilous economic situation months ago and was preparing the ground for unpopular announcements.
Labor insisted the Tories had misled the public and others on the issue, including the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The independent financial watchdog said it was investigating the last government’s spending forecasts in light of Labour’s black hole claims.
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In his speech, Starmer also referred to the recent anti-immigration riots sparked by the fatal knife attack in Southport.
Officials blamed far-right elements for helping to incite the unrest, which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, as well as police and other properties.
Trying to link the unrest to the Conservative legacy, the UK leader said they “did not happen in a vacuum” and had “exposed the state of our country”.
“They revealed a deeply unhealthy society … weakened by a decade of division and decline, tainted by a spiral of populism that fueled cycles of failure of the last government.”
“Every time they faced a difficult problem, they failed to be honest, they offered the snake oil of populism, which led to more failure,” Starmer argued.
Source: AFP