Is Keir Starmer plotting a wealth tax grab? Labour leader could be eyeing levy on the rich after announcing he will target shares and dividends
- Sir Keir Starmer hinted yesterday that Labour could tax wealth more heavily
- Labour leader told conference he is ‘looking at what is a fair way to tax income’
- ‘It is looking at different forms of income, stocks, shares and dividends,’ he said
- Starmer said party is closer to Tony Blair’s politics than those of Jeremy Corbyn
Labour could tax wealth more heavily, Sir Keir Starmer hinted yesterday.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference, the Opposition Leader said he was ‘looking at what is a fair way to tax all income, wherever it comes from’.
In an interview with LBC radio, he was asked whether he would ever consider bringing in a wealth tax.
He replied: ‘We are looking at how we tax fairly.
‘On wealth, I am looking at whether and how we tax all different forms of income.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference, the Opposition Leader said he was ‘looking at what is a fair way to tax all income, wherever it comes from’
‘Some people obviously earn their income through a wage, other people earn it through stocks and shares and dividends, and we are looking at what is a fair way to tax all income wherever it comes from.’
When it was suggested that it sounded as if he were talking about a wealth tax, he said: ‘No, it is not really a wealth tax.
‘It is looking at different forms of income, it is stocks and shares and dividends.’
Labour has already pledged to reverse the planned cut to the top rate of income tax and go ahead with the corporation tax increase that the Government said it would scrap.
Sir Keir’s party would also impose a windfall tax on oil and gas firms and change non-dom status for taxpayers.
Speaking to broadcasters on the final day of Labour’s annual conference, Sir Keir said yesterday that his party had become closer to the politics of Tony Blair than to those of Jeremy Corbyn.
Speaking to broadcasters on the final day of Labour’s annual conference, Sir Keir said yesterday that his party had become closer to the politics of Tony Blair than to those of Jeremy Corbyn
Despite having served in the shadow cabinet of Marxist Mr Corbyn, he said the party now offered ‘centre-ground, common-sense politics’, adding: ‘This is a confident Labour Party that’s done a lot of hard work in the last two years to change our party, remake our party, and people are now looking to the Labour Party for the answers to the very difficult questions that are out there.
‘So this is a Labour Party that can confidently look the electorate in the eye and the electorate are looking back at the Labour Party.’
He claimed delegates at the conference in Liverpool could sense change was in the air, and said: ‘The Government we’ve got has made an absolute mess of the economy and here you’ve got a Labour Party calmly, carefully and with confidence, setting out alternative plans for our economy and for our public services.’
Asked whether he was comfortable saying Labour was closer to the party of Sir Tony that it was to Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir added: ‘I certainly hope so, because Tony Blair won three elections and I want us to win the next election.
‘We are firmly on the centre ground… common-sense politics, practical answers to the challenges the country faces.’
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, Deputy leader, on the final day of the Party Conference
Sir Keir also responded to accusations that he was boring by saying the most exciting thing he has done in his life is witness the birth of his two children.
He added: ‘It was absolutely incredible to see the two most wonderful beings come into the world.’
The party leader said that against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an economic crisis the nation needed a ‘serious person steering the country calmly and competently to a better future’, adding: ‘If I came on here and said I’ve done a bungee jump, you wouldn’t say, “Well, great, now we’ve got the prime minister we need”.’
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