KEIR AS MUD
Labour plunged into chaos as frontbenchers contradict each other on beer and fuel duties as well as council tax shake-up
Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out a re-evaluation of council tax bands
LABOUR was plunged into chaos yesterday as the party's top team contradicted each other on plans to overhaul beer and fuel duties, as well as council tax.
Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out a re-evaluation of England's outdated council tax bands.
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But hours earlier Shadow Business Secretary Johnny Reynolds insisted a rise in local levies definitely won't go ahead.
The Labour chief also wouldn't shut down talk of maintaining a popular freeze on beer and fuel duties.
Having previously hinted a blockade on petrol and booze tax rises could come to an end, today Sir Keir said: “I think it is important that we support hospitality and the beer duty is part of the package there.
“But it is part of the challenge for small businesses, whether it is hospitality, whether it is retail as we have just been talking about."
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The party was urged to immediately "come clean" amid accusations of a secret plot to announce 12 tax raids after the election.
Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, said: “It’s worrying that Keir Starmer won’t come clean about how much money a Labour government will raid from families – especially as Labour will be unaccountable after it locks itself into government for a generation by rigging the system through bringing in votes at 16.
“Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to cut taxes.
"Labour’s £2,094 tax raid is just the beginning – they are a generational threat to everyone’s financial security.”
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The confusion kicked off early this morning when Mr Reynolds was pressed on his party's plans to shake up council tax.
When asked explicitly on GB News to confirm whether bands would not change, the Shadow Business Secretary replied: “Yes, I can."
Boost to pubs as Labour promises new powers to protect closure-threatened boozers — and hints beer duty will be frozen
"Let me just say on this, we've made some really specific arguments in our manifesto where we will get more revenue for public services.
“That's all very clear in those plans and we've made that commitment on National Insurance, VAT, Income Tax - the big taxes."
But on LBC Sir Keir sparked uncertainty by giving a different response to the same question.
The Labour chief said: "What I am not going to do is sit here two-and-a-bit weeks before the election and write the budgets for the next five years.
Sir Keir opens up about wife Lady Victoria and her absence from the campaign trail
SIR Keir Starmer today opened up for the first time about why his wife Lady Victoria has been absent from the campaign trail.
The Labour boss claimed his other half is busy working for the NHS and decided to ensure she's home for her son who is completing his GCSEs.
Asked on LBC "Why don't we see more of her?", Sir Keir replied: "Vic does quite a bit with me but during this campaign - two things one, she’s working at the NHS in a hospital.
"Two – our boy’s been doing his GCSEs… We wanted to create the environment where he could study calmly.”
The Labour chief added that his wife is always there for him when he needs some love after a tough day on the election trail.
Discussing the evening after the ITV Leaders' debate, he said: "So I was pretty sort of – ‘argh!’ – frustrated.
"I am not good company when I am in that place.
"But Vic cheered me up on that one.”
"What I can say is that none of our plans require a tax rise, and that is for a reason, and the reason is our focus on getting our economy going, on building, on growing, on raising living standards, on creating wealth."
Quizzed on what he meant when he said he would not raise taxes for "working people", Sir Keir added: "The person I have in my mind when I say working people is people who earn their living, rely on our services, and don't really have the ability to write a cheque when they get into trouble."
PREM TAX
It came as in a breakneck u-turn, the wannabe PM declared that Premier League clubs will NOT be taxed millions of pounds when buying star players.
The Labour leader slapped down his shadow sports secretary who only yesterday opened the door to a transfer levy.
It would see top-flight teams like his beloved Arsenal pay up to 10 per cent tax on each purchase to help fund struggling lower leagues.
But just hours after putting the proposal back on the table, Labour pulled the plug following a backlash.
Asked about the prospect this morning, Sir Keir told LBC: "No, let me just kill that one, we're not looking at that."
The idea was first proposed in the independent fan-led review carried out in 2021 by Tory MP Tracey Crouch but not taken on by the government.
A transfer levy was one of the few ideas in the fan-led review that was not adopted by the current government in its Football Governance Bill to overhaul the sport’s finances.
It could have raised hundreds of millions of pounds to redistribute into cash-starved lower league teams.
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The move was seen as a step too far after already committing to an independent regulator to oversee the game.
Labour backed the Tories’ plan and have committed to taking it on if they win power.
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