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Sir Keir Starmer has said that he will “have to be unpopular” to restore the public finances from the dire inheritance left by the Conservatives.
Accusing his predecessors of “running away from difficult decisions”, the prime minister said Labour can only deliver change if he makes “tough choices” now.
Sir Keir is facing a rebellion from backbenchers this week in a vote on his decision to withdraw the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners. As many as 30 Labour MPs have signalled that they will vote against the measure or abstain, setting up the second major rebellion of his time as prime minister.
He refused to say whether Labour MPs who vote against the government will lose the whip, claiming it is a “matter for the chief whip”. But seven Labour MPs were suspended for months after voting against the government on a motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap imposed by the Conservatives.
The move to means test the winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, will affect around 10 million pensioners, with warnings some could end up in hospital as a result of the change.
In his first sit-down interview since taking over as prime minister, Sir Keir told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I am absolutely convinced we will only deliver that change, I am absolutely determined we will, if we do the difficult things now.
“I know they are unpopular, I know they are difficult, of course they are tough choices.
“We are going to have to be unpopular.”
Sir Keir said when he talks about tough choices he is “talking about things the last government ran away from, that governments traditionally run away from”.
He added: “I am convinced that because they have run away from difficult decisions, we have not got the change we need for the country.”
Since taking office, Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves have highlighted a £22bn black hole in the public finances left by the Conservatives, with the chancellor’s first budget in October set to contain further painful measures to plug the gap.
As well as restricting winter fuel payments and maintaining the two-child benefit cap, Ms Reeves is set to unveil a series of additional spending cuts and tax hikes in the statement.
Sir Keir went on to say he is “absolutely clear” in his mind that the winter fuel allowance needs to be cut to shore up the public finances.
He said: “Talking to many pensioners in the last two or three years, the things that have hit the most and hardest are inflation, because it got out of control under the last government, energy bills, because the steps that were needed to be taken years ago weren’t taken, and the cost of living.
“I’m determined that no pensioner will ever be put through that before. That’s why we’re fixing the foundations now, tough though that may be.”
He added: “I am absolutely clear in my own mind that we can’t bring about that change if we don’t fix the fundamentals and stabilise our economy.
“Equally clear in my mind, in order to deliver the change, which we will deliver, we have to fix the foundations now. And that’s tough decisions.”
Meanwhile, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting went further, telling Sky News that “it’s not just pensioners” who will feel the brunt of the “tough choices” in Labour’s budget.
He added: “We didn’t come into government determined to take away people’s winter fuel allowances. That’s not the primary motivation here. The motivation is to balance the books.
“We have had to take into account context. And by the way, it’s not just pensioners. We’ve got a budget and the spending review coming up, there are difficult choices coming and we’re going to have to look carefully at how we make sure we can build the future for our country.
“We want to see whether that’s getting NHS waiting lists down, making sure that kids from the poorest backgrounds have the same chances as those from the wealthiest backgrounds. And, crucially, to make sure we get the economy growing so we can invest in our public service.”
