Keir Starmer – Labour would reintroduce 45p tax rate
The battle lines for the next election are being drawn. Friday’s ‘mini-Budget’ turned out to be a major event in its own right, with a raft of measures aimed unashamedly at whirring the UK’s economy back to life. The statement has also put a new spring in the step of Labour’s leader Sir Keir Starmer, who was interviewed this morning by Laura Kuenssberg as his party conference gets underway in Liverpool. Kuenssberg asked where Labour stood on the changes to income tax, which most notably saw the scrapping of the 45p top rate:
We’ll need another energy plan
Earlier this month, the government announced it would be freezing energy bills for two years under a new price guarantee. Starmer had pre-empted the government with an announcement of his own, but Labour’s support package would have only provided relief for six months. Kuenssberg challenged Starmer over whether this policy would need a rethink:
Kwasi Kwarteng – We went for ‘tax cuts across the board’
Kuenssberg went onto interview the Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, confronting him with the charge that his mini-Budget was only an affair for the wealthy:
Andy Burnham – Mini-Budget was a ‘flagrant act of vandalism’
The mayor of Greater Manchester gave his verdict on the Chancellor’s statement when speaking to Sophy Ridge:
Mick Lynch – People will ‘regret further oppression’ of unions
And finally, the boss of the RMT union Mick Lynch told Ridge that he considered the government to be launching an attack on trades unions with its plans to curb strike action:
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