Keir ‘the pensions hypocrite’: Starmer vows to block hike in pension pot tax break… despite special deal as CPS chief meaning his OWN retirement fund is exempt from brutal penalties
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Sir Keir Starmer is at the centre of a hypocrisy row today after it was revealed he has a unique pension deal that allows him to avoid tax on his savings, at the same time he is opposing a Government reforms.
The Labour leader criticised Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s plans announced in last week’s Budget to abolish the tax-free limit on pensions savings, a move designed to prevent skilled NHS medics from retiring early.
He attacked the cap, which had stood at £1.07 million, describing it as a ‘huge giveaway to some of the very wealthiest’ because it is not limited to medical staff or other key sectors.
But The Telegraph claimed that Sir Keir is himself exempt from tax rules he would apply to other workers who save more than £1 million, under a special arrangement with the Government from his time as Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales between 2008 and 2013.
Labour defended their leader this morning, with shadow justice secretary Steve Reed saying it was ‘set up by the Conservative government at the time so if people have problems with it they really need to speak to David Cameron and George Osborne.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, said: ‘Politicians who take policy positions should recognise that complaining that others benefit, while they themselves have also benefited, is as close to hypocrisy as it is possible to get.
Labour leader Keir Starmer during a press conference at the Labour party headquarters in central London
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, said: ‘Politicians who take policy positions should recognise that complaining that others benefit, while they themselves have also benefited, is as close to hypocrisy as it is possible to get.’ Fellow Tory MP Kieran Mullan said: ‘This is brazen hypocrisy from Sir Keir Starmer.’
‘This makes a mockery of the current Labour Party position.’
Fellow Tory MP Kieran Mullan said: ‘This is brazen hypocrisy from Sir Keir Starmer.
‘While Starmer benefits from a bespoke public sector pension with no lifetime cap, he wants to re-introduce a cap for everyone else.
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‘Sir Keir should come clean and explain why he should benefit from an uncapped pension pot, but other public servants shouldn’t.’
The Labour leader has pledged to force other wealthy savers to be subject to a cap on their pension savings and last night led a Parliamentary attempt to overturn the centrepiece of Mr Hunt’s Budget.
Sir Keir has vowed to reverse it if Labour wins the next general election.
Mr Reed was asked repeatedly if Labour would change the rules, when he appeared on Sky News.
‘Those schemes were put in place so that we didn’t have an exodus of judges and you know that we’ve got the biggest backlog on record of trials.
‘If we change the pension scheme for judges and lose judges, then what is already a 60,000 backlog in the Crown courts, three-year delays, will be even worse.
He told the programme: ‘It’s part of the judges’ scheme and Labour’s got no plans to change judges’ pension arrangements, because you’d lose judges and then the delays in the courts would get worse.’
The Telegraph reported that Sir Keir’s civil service pension is not large enough to incur a tax charge under the pension cap system on its own, and he has not paid into it since 2013.
Under the current system, almost all taxpayers must pay rates of 25 per cent on money taken as income, or 55 per cent on a lump sum, on any sums over £1.07million.
But under Sir Keir’s arrangement, any money he saved while serving as DPP does not count towards his total.
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘The pension rules for the Director of Public Prosecution are set by the government of the day, not the DPP themselves.’
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