Sir Keir vows not to hike income tax if he wins next general election

Sir Keir Starmer vows not to ‘increase burden on working people’ by hiking income tax if he wins next general election

• Sir Keir said he’d avoid hikes ‘across the board’ if he becomes prime minister
• Tories trail Labour by 14 points as Rishi Sunak faces double by-election threat

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed not to ‘increase the burden on working people’ by raising income tax if he wins the next general election.

The Labour leader said he would avoid hikes ‘across the board’, having previously ruled out a wealth tax on the richest in society. 

 ‘We will do nothing to increase the burden on working people, whether it comes to tax or anything else,’ he pledged in an interview with The Mirror.

When quizzed on whether he would increase income tax, Sir Keir simply answered: ‘No.’ 

The Labour leader has backed away from tax rises since pledging to increase income tax for the top five per cent of earners during his 2020 leadership bid, instead emphasising his aim to secure the highest growth in the G7. 

The leadership was criticised last month by the Labour left for its decision to rule out any kind of wealth tax if it wins the next election. 

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed not to ‘increase the burden on working people’ by raising income tax if he wins the next general election

Sir Keir is eyeing up leadership and his party lead Rishi Sunak’s (pictured) Conservatives by 14 points, according to a new poll

The move is designed to blunt Tory attacks, with figures concerned that the possibility of tax hikes or unfunded spending pledges would be used to paint the party as economically incompetent. 

READ MORE: Tories trail Labour by 14 POINTS as Rishi Sunak faces threat of his ‘reset’ being wrecked by double by-election hammering next month 

The plans echo those promised by Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the run-up to their 1997 landslide victory in 1997, when they pledged not to raise tax and to stick to Tory spending for the first two years. 

Sir Keir is expected to use this year’s party conference to set out how a government led by him would revive a sluggish economy, with planning reforms central to the party’s bid to build its way back to economic growth. 

It will take place on October 8-11, following the Conservatives’ conference to be held in Manchester on October 1-4. 

In his pledge not to hike levies, Sir Keir blasted the Conservative party for their ‘incompetence’ across the last 13 years. He also warned that Rishi Sunak’s Government is plagued with ‘complete inertia’.

His damning comments come as MPs return to Westminster on the back of the crumbling schools scandal. 

When MPs return for the new term, the Government is expected to begin the process for a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire after Nadine Dorries’ resignation

Sir Keir (pictured) is expected to use this year’s party conference to set out how a government led by him would revive a sluggish economy, with planning reforms central to the party’s bid to build its way back to economic growth

The Labour leader is optimistic that his party can win the seat – and he is also eyeing up Rutherglen and Hamilton West after MP Margaret Ferrier was ousted over Covid rule-breaking.

Meanwhile former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher will learn this week whether his appeal against an eight-week suspension from the Commons has succeeded.

If his bid is rejected he will be subject to a recall petition, with speculation he could opt to resign his Tamworth constituency. Typically the party defending the seat decides when to move the ‘writ’ triggering a by-election, but the contest would be expected some time in October.

It comes after new polling revealed that voters now see Labour as the low-tax party for families.

Exclusive polling by former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft reveals that more than a third of people – 34 per cent – think that Labour would keep the tax burden low for workers and families, compared with just 14 per cent who believe that the Tories would do so.

Mr Sunak is facing growing calls from the Right of his party to promise pre-election tax cuts in an attempt to eat into Labour’s stubbornly high opinion poll lead. 

In a bleak set of findings for No 10, 11 times as many people thought that the Government took too much from them in tax as thought they took too little – 44 per cent versus four per cent.

Reflecting a damaging perception among some sections of the electorate that the Tories are the party of the rich, 46 per cent think the Tories will keep taxes low for businesses, as opposed to just one in ten who think that Labour will act to do so.

The latest Opinium survey showed Starmer’s party maintaining a 14-point lead, and the advantage has been even higher in other research.

With nerves mounting on the government benches, Jeremy Hunt today batted away Tory calls for immediate tax cuts.

The Chancellor insisted that he will ‘stick to the plan’ to ensure Mr Sunak’s pledge to halve in inflation is kept – despite fears that the next set of figures could see CPI rise over 7 per cent again.

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