Keir Starmer: Labour would reverse cut to top income tax rate

Labour would reverse the government’s cut to the top rate of income tax, leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.

He told the BBC the move was “the wrong choice” during a cost-of-living crisis.

But Sir Keir said he supported the decision to cut the basic rate of tax from 20% to 19% as this would “reduce the tax burden on working people”.

On Friday Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled plans to scrap the higher 45% rate as he set out the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years.

Sir Keir told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I do not think that the choice to have tax cuts for those that are earning hundreds of thousands of pounds is the right choice when our economy is struggling the way it is, working people are struggling in the way they are… that is the wrong choice.”

However, on the cut to the basic rate of income tax, he said: “I’ve long made the argument that we should reduce the tax burden on working people.

“That’s why we opposed the national insurance increase earlier this year, which of course the government is now reversing.”

Sir Keir also said there was now “a belief” that his party would win the next election, with signs some former Labour voters who backed the Conservatives in 2019 were returning.

“Something has happened in the Labour Party this year, which is the hope of a Labour government has turned into a belief in a Labour government,” he said.

Asked whether workers should expect their pay to rise in line with inflation, Sir Keir said it was “reasonable” for people to expect their wages to take account of the rising cost of living.

Workers ranging from rail staff to barristers have taken industrial action over pay, with unions calling for pay rises above inflation, which is at a 40-year high of 9.9%.

Sir Keir Starmer has committed to keeping the expensive cut to the basic rate of income tax if he is prime minister.

It is now the settled will of the two main political parties that income tax should be lower for everyone who pays it.

But he believes the political battle is over whether those on high salaries should get an extra cut.

Labour has committed to reversing the decision to abolish the additional rate of income tax – believing it to be unfair.

And Sir Keir is feeling more optimistic about his electoral prospects. He says there is now a belief that Labour can form the next government.

Pushed whether he would support people going on strike if pay rises did not match inflation, Sir Keir said strikes were “a last resort” and he could understand how people were driven to industrial action when they were struggling to pay their bills.

Sir Keir’s shadow transport minister was sacked after joining striking rail workers on a picket line over the summer.

The official line was that Sam Tarry was sacked for “making up policy on the hoof” in an unauthorised media appearance but shadow ministers had been warned not to appear at picket lines.

Asked why he was not more visible on picket lines, Sir Keir said the “most important” thing he could do as party leader was “usher in a Labour government” and his job was different to that of a union leader.

At the start of its party conference in Liverpool, Labour has unveiled plans on green energy and boosting police numbers.

The party said it wanted to make the UK the first major economy in the world to generate all of its electricity without using fossil fuels.

Sir Keir said achieving zero carbon energy by 2030 would be a key priority if his party wins the next election, adding that it was an “difficult” goal but “absolutely doable”.

The government has already committed to zero carbon electricity by 2035 but Labour believes it can win votes by promoting green energy as a way to generate economic growth, in contrast to Tory tax cuts for the well-off.