UK
Starmer is trying to make working class people pay for the mess that the Tories left behind
Keir Starmer on the phone to his rich buddies (Picture: No10)
Tuesday 27 August 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue 2920
Remember when soaking Rishi Sunak stood outside Downing Street to announce the election while “Things Can Only Get Better” blasted in the background? On Tuesday Keir Starmer swept away hope of speedy change and laid out that things are going to get worse (see page 3).
“I won’t shy away from making unpopular decisions now if it’s the best thing for the country in the long term,” he said. “We can’t go back to business as usual.” Starmer is preparing us for Labour’s “painful” October budget—and to make working class people pay for the chaos the Tories left behind.
Things will be getting worse for ordinary people—not politicians, bosses or bankers. That’s a political choice.
Labour doesn’t need to keep the two-child benefit cap, snatch the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners and slash funding from key services to fill the “£22 billion black hole”. Stopping funding for war would save billions. Britain has given £4.6 billion to Ukraine’s war drive, plus a further £2.5 billion this year.
Military spending is 2.2 percent of Britain’s GDP. But Labour will raise spending to 2.5 percent to a total of £87 billion a year.
Above all, Labour won’t tax the rich. A 2 percent wealth tax on assets over £10 million could generate £24 billion a year and affect just 0.04 percent of people.
Applying the same rate of tax on income to capital gains—a tax on the profit when the rich gains from selling second homes and businesses—would generate £16.7 billion a year. Ending subsidies for oil and gas companies would generate £2.2 billion a year.
And around £10 billion could be generated by taxing the rich who get huge breaks for paying into private pension schemes. But relying on Labour to tax the billionaires isn’t enough.
We need to dismantle the system that creates vast wealth inequality. That means launching an assault against the bosses and their system—and going beyond the narrowness of trade union leaders.
Pushed on BBC Radio 4 to comment on Labour’s plans, TUC union federation general secretary Paul Nowak fell dutifully in line. He could have been mistaken for a Labour spokesperson.
Nowak said, “This is a serious message from a serious prime minister that his government is committed to putting right what went wrong over 14 years.”
And he said that unions wouldn’t push for higher public sector pay than the pay review bodies recommended. We can’t sit around and wait for things to potentially get better. Starmer said that national strikes “crippled” the country.
Workers need to use this power. If things are getting worse for us, we should make it much worse for Starmer.
“I won’t shy away from making unpopular decisions now if it’s the best thing for the country in the long term,” he said. “We can’t go back to business as usual.” Starmer is preparing us for Labour’s “painful” October budget—and to make working class people pay for the chaos the Tories left behind.
Things will be getting worse for ordinary people—not politicians, bosses or bankers. That’s a political choice.
Labour doesn’t need to keep the two-child benefit cap, snatch the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners and slash funding from key services to fill the “£22 billion black hole”. Stopping funding for war would save billions. Britain has given £4.6 billion to Ukraine’s war drive, plus a further £2.5 billion this year.
Military spending is 2.2 percent of Britain’s GDP. But Labour will raise spending to 2.5 percent to a total of £87 billion a year.
Above all, Labour won’t tax the rich. A 2 percent wealth tax on assets over £10 million could generate £24 billion a year and affect just 0.04 percent of people.
Applying the same rate of tax on income to capital gains—a tax on the profit when the rich gains from selling second homes and businesses—would generate £16.7 billion a year. Ending subsidies for oil and gas companies would generate £2.2 billion a year.
And around £10 billion could be generated by taxing the rich who get huge breaks for paying into private pension schemes. But relying on Labour to tax the billionaires isn’t enough.
We need to dismantle the system that creates vast wealth inequality. That means launching an assault against the bosses and their system—and going beyond the narrowness of trade union leaders.
Pushed on BBC Radio 4 to comment on Labour’s plans, TUC union federation general secretary Paul Nowak fell dutifully in line. He could have been mistaken for a Labour spokesperson.
Nowak said, “This is a serious message from a serious prime minister that his government is committed to putting right what went wrong over 14 years.”
And he said that unions wouldn’t push for higher public sector pay than the pay review bodies recommended. We can’t sit around and wait for things to potentially get better. Starmer said that national strikes “crippled” the country.
Workers need to use this power. If things are getting worse for us, we should make it much worse for Starmer.
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