Prime Minister Keir Starmer will warn this week that Britons must endure further economic and social pressures as the Labour government takes 'unpopular decisions' to rebuild the country from what he describes as the 'rubble and ruin' left by the Conservatives. In a speech on Tuesday, Starmer is expected to say that the 'rot' left by the Tories is deeper than imagined and that improvement 'won't happen overnight'.
Starmer will argue that recent riots were partly due to a broken society, citing a lack of prison places as a fundamental failure. He will state: 'Those people throwing rocks, torching cars, making threats – they didn’t just know the system was broken. They were betting on it.' The prime minister will set the stage for difficult decisions on tax and spending this autumn, saying the government inherited 'not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole'.
Since Labour's landslide victory on 4 July, Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have blamed the Tories for a dire inheritance. However, with MPs returning to Westminster and the party conference season approaching, Starmer faces growing demands from Labour MPs and unions for more help for those struggling economically, rather than further austerity. Motions tabled to the TUC conference call for emergency wealth taxes, an end to the two-child benefit cap, and scrapping recent restrictions on winter fuel payments.
Reeves is under pressure to reverse her decision to limit winter fuel payments to only the poorest pensioners, especially after the energy regulator announced a 10% rise in gas and electricity prices for this winter. Former Labour minister Harriet Harman suggested a 'different cut-off point' for the payments, while financial expert Martin Lewis proposed widening eligibility to pensioners in council tax bands A to D. Labour MP Rachael Maskell said changes are needed to show the party cares about the most vulnerable.
