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SIR KEIR STARMER will today call on the government to “put families first” during the ongoing third coronavirus lockdown by reversing cuts to benefits and a planned rise to council tax.
The Labour leader’s first speech of the year sets out the party’s priorities for the months ahead, in which he will outline proposals to stop a planned cut in universal credit for six million families, halt a planned council tax rise and give key workers a pay increase.
PM Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are allowing councils and mayors to increase council tax by up to 5 per cent from April, saying that it would pay for extra support for local services.
New PM slashes fuel bills and culls Starmer deadwood, but peace activists warn that placing John Healey as new Chancellor shows ‘beyond doubt that the military industrial complex is in charge of Burnham’s economic policy’
Only an ambitious programme of state-led investment can restore growth and improve living standards, argues MICHAEL BURKE
The 2025 Budget shores up the PM’s political position with headline-grabbing welfare U-turns, but with no improvements on offer to declining public services or living standards, writes MICHAEL BURKE