“This Is A Warning For Tax Rises” | Keir Starmer Warns 'Things Will Get Worse'

the uh the the the story we're going to talk about right now which is about kir starmer saying things will get worse before they get better this is his first major speech since entering number 10 but is the Doom and Gloom actually code for tax cuts uh what's going on here he shred billions on his union pay masters he's been accused of that certainly we've seen all those Rises we've seen the 15% that has gone to the um to the the uh train drivers we've seen the 22% rise that has gone to the Junior doctors as well and plenty of other unions queuing up to try to get an answer from Kier starmer and Angel rer and certainly Rachel Reeves about what's happening Anna mova is Deputy political editor of the meal on Sunday she wrote the story for them about things getting worse it was of course 1997 when D Great Northern Irish band uh came up with things can only get better that was played incessantly during that election it's been played a bit more recently as well Anna are we just being prepared for what's going to happen on the 30th of October do you think I think we are um I don't think it's just the 30th of October either um I mean I have to say when that text dropped uh you know the preview of the PM's big speech on Tuesday yesterday in the office um it had lots of good good quotes I mean he's got great you know as we would say in the industry great language he talks about um the rot in the country broken Britain um the things he needs to overhaul as you say the things going get worse so as a journalist I was delighted because there was lots to write about uh but but as a member of the public perhaps a bit less so because it wasn't exactly the most uplifting message to read on a Saturday he's also talked about the riots as well he said years of Tory failure including not having enough prison spaces me the dealing with this Summer's riots was much harder than tackling the 2011 disturbances when he was director of public prosecutions he's also talked about some of the things that drove those riots in Kier star's estimation he did I mean um he he basically blames the riers for trying to expl exp the weaknesses in Britain so he's uh he's both pinning the blame on the last government by saying that they've deteriorated everything so much since 2011 when he just say he dealt with the Tottenham riots um as DPP and he's saying that uh certain people's Society very much knew that when they went out looting uh trying to you know set things on fire and and and and yeah again I mean it's a strong message um he's very much saying that he is proud of the way he uh cracked down on those RS I think most of the public agrees with that uh but he's saying there's going to be more tough decisions to follow because the last thing he wants to do as a former DPP and a former uh lawyer is to be you know having to um release people early um free up prison places but he's saying he's he's he's been compelled to do that because of the state of the country that he's been dealt what are the conservatives saying about their honor the conservatives are immediately saying oh this is all a warning for tax Rises um I I noticed you've asked the public to phone in and and and give their thoughts um I mean this is going to be the really big debate where exactly is Rachel Reeves going to put up costs and also make Cuts because don't forget you don't even have to have tax Rises you can just do things like scrapping the winter fuel allowance that's not technically a tax rise but it's going to make people a lot poorer yes certainly and Stuart has been in touch on Tex and says when Kier Storer says things will get obviously doesn't include the unions in that statement and to govern is to choose as we know but clearly there's anger in regard to these pay settlements that have been made and of course Rachel Rayes under pressure as you say over the winter fuel allowances that's right um I thought he was very interesting in this preview of this speech that we will see in full on Tuesday on the unions he he completely defends his decision to to Ward these big payouts um the pay offers to the unions and but he describes it as I came in and I felt these disputes and Strikes um that been have been you know plaguing the country for so long but but of course he hasn't settled the strikes because as soon as he gave aslef a 14 uh% pay offer way out uh you know with with with no conditions within 48 hours they announced for the strikes to come this Autumn so I I find it strange that he can think he can claim both that he's ended the strikes and fixed the problem even though you know he's basically saying oh it cost a bit more but it's worth it Anna thank you Anna M over there she's Deputy political editor of the mail on Sunday and her report is on page six of the of the paper today alongside Brandon Carin um thank you to everybody who's been in touch uh Neil says K ster did not crack down on the riots in leads in Neil's opinion dawn said in chelsford says morning Peter like a lot of people I'm fearful of what starmer will do to our country his parliamentary majority gives him dictator status it's very worrying um the past thing is an interesting one I wonder what people think of this do you care do you care that a dunor has got a past a street now there's a lot there has of course been a lot of crism from successive governments conservative governments of course loads and loads of times they put certain people into certain roles give them taxpayer funded jobs and jollies and and there's no there's no suggestion that the Tories weren't up to it but in my time covering Westminster sort of 15 years or so on being in Westminster and working in Westminster I don't think I've ever heard of a donor being given a pass now that Pat mcfaden has said Pat McFadden's the chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster he says that that pass has now been revoked from Lord Ali he's this um sort of media Mogul who had a pass for Downing Street is that something you care about is that something anybody really worries about certainly the labor government think it's worrying enough to actually revoke it but there we are let us know your thoughts on that as well 0344 499 1000 Sue talking about the conservatives says the conservatives are done they're out of touch and Out of Time Jan says since starmer became PM it is worse than ever of course it got will get worse than him with him in dining Street and Mick and Wallington says Will Reeves councel starmer's unique pension which was protected by a special bill in Parliament just for him that's right he did have a special piece of legislation just for his own pension and of course lots of people feel this way about the conservatives feel this way about really almost all politicians that they are just a different a breed apart and if you have a special bill for your pension as starmer had are you really going to be someone who's in touch with a common man of course and woman a lot of people made that criticism of Rishi sunak as well with his millions and all the rest of it um let's talk to Elliot kek now he is the head of campaigns at the tax Alliance Elliot thanks for your company this morning I just wonder what you make of this with Kier starmer saying things will only get worse before they get better this do you think this is storing up or laying the groundwork ruling the pitch I suppose for what may well happen in uh in October with a budget well a very good morning Peter good to be on the show with you I think uh it's really really interesting uh not something that new governments normally like to push the idea that things are in a terrible situation and also are only going to get worse it's something of course that the conservatives did though to great effect in 2010 to 2015 and the real question is is how things going to get worse and I think it's going to be a variety of tax Rises exactly Which tax tax Rises are not entirely clear yet but it looks likely it'll be something along the lines of capital gains pension relief possibly inheritance tax but I also wonder if potentially they're going to actually end up looking at National Insurance yeah it's interesting I mean they've ruled out National Insurance but then again Rachel Reeves did say during the election I have no plans to raise taxes on working people but I mean most working people pay all sorts of different taxes even things like capital gains tax so you think National Insurance could be brought into this I wonder as well on the we're going to talk about later in the program about the winter fuel Alliance whether a a U-turn a reversal on the winter fuel Alliance might be on the cards as well I think that would be good politics what do you think Elliot well there's certainly enormous pressure for them to u-turn on and but the problem with you turning on that is that's another one and a half billion pounds that they're going to have to find which is to Simply Mount the pressure on tax Rises and the problem is is the more pressure you have on the public finances the more you're going to have to start looking at the major uh tax Rises things like capital gains tax tax excuse me inheritance tax pensions relief these things aren't actually going to raise much money in fact capital gains tax Rises a forecast to actually lose treasury money under some uh analysis by hmrc so if you're actually going to start making your life more difficult on the spending front you will start to have to look at National Insurance and that might mean the uh employee rate of National Insurance but that could employer rate Nation Insurance that's the amount that the actual business pays itself and that would probably be a way around this point about raising tax on working people it' be a terrible policy but the politics of it might be a bit easier for Rachel Reeves yeah it's a really really interesting point um that you make there Elliot and I subo it's a matter of what people will take as well you're at the taxpayers alliance you want tax to be uh well taxes to be spent as efficiently as possible if you had to put up a tax if someone was shining a light in your eyes and making a threatening gesture to you Elliott what what tax would you think would be fairest to increase generally most economists agree that vat is the least harmful tax uh that removing vat exemptions would be the uh least harmful tax rise the reason is that it doesn't really distort behavior in the way that for example capital gains taxes or taxes on work or tax on on investment distort Behavior they discourage the likelihood of investing and working uh increasing vat would be the least harmful But ultimately with the tax already at thir and already at approaching 80y year hard I don't we should really be looking to raise any taxes in fact I think in an Ideal World we'd be looking at trying to uh cut taxes for some areas yeah I agree with you I want taxes to be as low as possible Elliot thank you very much indeed Elliot C there Elliot head of head of camps of the taxpayers alliance put my teeth in um an says when starmer says getting worse before getting better I say for who Terry and Sly says hi Peter in my opinion the only growth industry under this labor government will be poverty says Terry and Chris and Siri says with eight weeks within 8 weeks this labor government has militarized the police politicized the Judiciary and appear to be operating a two-tier system opened our borders ever wider released dangerous criminals labeled those who complain far right and locked them up controlling freedom of speech and movement is simply sewing the seeds for Anarchy says Christine and Siri an is in Weston super mayor H an what do you make of this what would you like to say about the labor government's performance so far yeah well they made a big thing about singing and dancing about things are only going to get better and we thought well that's a load of rubbish now if they're telling us now that things are going to get worse before they're going to get better you know they're going to get really bad uh I mean they've only been in power what four weeks and you know yeah about eight weeks but but an I wonder at what point do we say labor needs to take responsibility and at what point do you say actually the conservatives are still the blame for some of these issues because they were in par for 14 years well yes they both both to blame really but every new government that comes into Power will always blame the other they won't take responsibility for their own actions and you knew the moment they were going to get in they were going to raise taxes I think they're going to do a lot more than raise taxes I mean this uh riots that are going on do you know what he thinks he's coming down cracking down hard on them and it's going to stop I tell you what if he goes on pushing the people at the bottom of the par like he's doing there's going to be more trouble in his streets because you can push people so far and they've had enough um yeah I'm I'm absolutely dreading what's ahead of us to be honest and we've been told an that there will be tax rises in the budget uh what tax Rises do you think there should be if any well there there has to be a certain amount of tax Rises I agree but giving these massive payouts to these big companies is really dividing in the country even more I mean you got a cake and you got to divide the cake into pieces there's only certain amounts that can go to each person and it seems to me the people at the bottom of the pile are the ones that are suffering the most you take the pensioners right they know they don't have a a pension rise and in fact well they they've had a triple lock for quite a long time well you know what but if they've got a small pension and my husband has a small pension and I mean a small pension then that counteracts that because they take it away in tax um uh and also pensioners are on a fixed income so it's not as if most of them anyway can go out and work as well yeah and every day I or every week I go out shopping I can see the prices in the shops ring Rising Higher and Higher and obviously the the the bills for the fuel are going to come in and they're going to get high you're right and and that's going to go up energy Bills going up 149 pounds from October just as the winter approach is and just as that winter field allance is taken away from many pensioners