One thing was very clear from Keir Starmer’s conference speech in Liverpool: Conservative prime minister Liz Truss’s policy choices are helping the Labour leader define a clearer ideological position. A key dividing line, reiterated by Starmer throughout this speech, was the distributional impact of the abolition of the additional rate of tax (the 45p rate) – and Starmer’s commitment to reverse that decision.
Starmer’s speech was very much a product of the current moment. The events of the past week – Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax cuts and the market reaction that followed – could clearly affect the Conservatives’ reputation for economic management.
