Keir Starmer tried to use today’s PMQs to set up some future attack lines. First, he again tried to drive a wedge between Boris Johnson and the Covid Recovery Group, asking him to criticise the statements that members of it have made denouncing the lockdown easing plan.
Unsurprisingly, Johnson didn’t take the bait. But if the data continues to surprise for the better, these MPs will become more vocal in calling for a faster end to restrictions. Second, Starmer pressed Johnson to rule out tax rises for families or businesses — an attempt to lay down a marker before next week’s Budget where Rishi Sunak is predicted to announce an increase in corporation tax. Johnson again sidestepped.
One can see what Starmer is trying to do on corporation tax. If it does go up, there’ll be a large chunk of unhappy Tory MPs. But it is worth remembering that corporation tax is a tax on profits, not a turnover tax. This might make the politics of any increase in corporation tax slightly easier.
Another feature of today’s PMQs was that local electioneering has begun in earnest. There’ll be two years worth of elections in May and they have taken on particular importance as the first electoral test since Covid struck and the first of Starmer’s leadership. If the Tories hold on to both the Teesside and West Midlands’ mayoralties, it will show just how much Labour will have to do to win back the red wall.
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