Keir Starmer vows to give up his bespoke pension tax deal amid hypocrisy row over CPS agreement that would have exempted him from Labour plans to bring back penalties for the well-off
Keir Starmer vowed to pay more tax on his own pension today after being accused of hypocrisy over a bespoke deal he did when head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Labour leader today revealed he would apply Labour’s pensions policy to his own pot if it wins power, saying he would be ‘in the same position as everyone else in this country’.
Labour has criticised Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget plan to abolish the £1.07million tax-free limit on pensions savings, a move designed to prevent skilled NHS medics from retiring early.
Sir Keir branded it 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.
But speaking in Stoke today, he said: ‘I am absolutely committed to changing what the government did last week, which was to give a tax cut to the wealthiest one per cent.
‘Let me go further than that. I don’t intend that to exclude me.
The Labour leader today revealed he would apply Labour’s pensions policy to his own pot if it wins power, saying he would be ‘in the same position as everyone else in this country’.
Labour has criticised Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ‘s Budget plan to abolish the £1.07million tax-free limit on pensions savings, a move designed to prevent skilled NHS medics from retiring early.
‘And therefore, I haven’t taken advantage of this, there are no tax advantage, and nor do I want one.
‘So when I reverse that change the government put in law last week, I will be included within that, whatever change is needed within legislation or anything else.
‘I am very happy, want to be, and will be in the same position as everyone else in this country.’
Tory peer Lord Hayward said a Labour victory at the next election was still the most likely option but that it was ‘becoming less certain’.
The pollster told Sky News the ‘mood has changed’ in the Conservative Party following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s handling of Brexit and the outcome of the Budget.
‘You could talk to Tory MPs, they were (saying), ‘We’re going to lose, I’m going to lose my seat, it is a disaster’,’ said Lord Hayward.
‘Labour were virtually measuring up for the curtains. But the atmosphere has changed, there is a degree of uncertainty.’
After saying he had spoken to a Liberal Democrat who had bet on there being no overall majority after the next election, he was asked whether that was a good bet to make.
He replied: ‘I think it is risky still. The likelihood is that you would expect Labour to win the next election, but I think the prospects of that are becoming less certain.’
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