Starmer fails to repeat commitment not to extend freeze on income tax

Sir Keir Starmer failed to repeat the Chancellor’s commitment not to extend the freeze on income tax, ahead of next week’s spring statement.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed the Prime Minister to reaffirm the pledge during Prime Minister’s Questions.

In the autumn budget, Rachel Reeves decided not to extend the freeze on the thresholds at which people start to pay different rates of income tax.

In the Commons, the Conservative leader also accused Sir Keir of digging his own black hole and urged him to protect hospices from national insurance increases.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch said: “The Chancellor promised a once-in-a-parliament budget that she would not come back for more. And in that budget, she said there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax thresholds.

“Ahead of the emergency budget, will he repeat the commitment that she made?”

Sir Keir replied: “She’s got such pre-scripted questions she can’t actually adapt them to the answers that I’m giving. I think she now calls herself a Conservative realist. Well, I’m realistic about the Conservatives.

“The reality is they left open borders and she was the cheerleader. They crashed the economy, mortgages went through the roof. The NHS was left on its knees, and they hollowed out the armed forces.

“This Government has already delivered two million extra NHS appointments, 750 breakfast clubs, record returns of people who shouldn’t be here, and a fully-funded increase in our defence spending. That is the difference that a Labour Government makes.”

Earlier in the session, Mrs Badenoch questioned why an “emergency budget” was taking place, following the Chancellor’s “once in a parliamentary reset”.

Sir Keir defended the Government’s economic record, saying: “We have delivered record investment into this country, had three interest rates cuts in a row, and wages are going up faster than prices, which is a massive cost-of-living boost.

“That’s after only eight months, after 14 years of absolute failure. What did they do? Interest rates 11%, a massive £22 billion black hole in the economy. They crashed the economy, we’re rebuilding Britain.”

Mrs Badenoch then said: “He knows why we’re having an emergency budget, because since the last one, since the Chancellor delivered her budget in October, growth is down, borrowing is up and she has destroyed business confidence.

“Does the Prime Minister now regret raising taxes on business?”

Sir Keir said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will present its numbers following the spring statement next week.

“If not, what’s the point? If so, what other taxes is she raising to fill the hole?”

In response, Mrs Badenoch said: “The only black hole is the one he is digging. He’s shown absolutely no regret but everybody knows the Chancellor has made a mistake, that is why they’re having an emergency budget.

“Later today, Conservatives will vote to exempt hospices, pharmacies and care providers from her national insurance rise. Will he, at the very least, support exempting these vulnerable services from his jobs tax?”

Sir Keir replied: “I noticed she didn’t say they’re going to reverse the national insurance rises. She wants all the benefits but they can’t say how they’re going to pay for it. She carps from the sideline but can’t make her mind up whether she supports or doesn’t support national insurance rises.

“We’ve made provision for hospices, we’ve made provisions for charities but we had to secure the economy, we had to fill the £22 billion black hole that they disgracefully left.”

Mrs Badenoch joked that the two leaders should “swap sides”, saying: “(If) they want me to answer questions, then we can swap sides.”

She added: “I remember when he made that announcement, he’s forgotten because the money he is referring to for hospices is for buildings. It is not for the salaries hit by the job tax.

“As St Helena Hospice in Colchester said, we cannot use this funding for salaries, which is where we need urgent help. Why is the Prime Minister not listening to hospices?”

Sir Keir replied: “I have already set out the position in relation to hospices.

“She says that she wants to swap sides, I mean, heaven forbid. After 14 years of breaking everything we’re getting on with the job of fixing it, and all she can do is carp from the sidelines with absolutely no policy.”