PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has warned that the Labour government’s first Budget will be “painful”.
The Labour leader issued the warning as he gave a keynote speech in Downing Street’s Rose Garden on Tuesday morning.
Starmer said that people in the UK would have to accept “short-term pain for the long-term good”.
He also drew comparisons between the clean-up after the far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland and the work needed to improve the UK.
Speaking on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.
“Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.
“Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up, that’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on the water companies that let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.
“But just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade off for the genuine solution.
“And I know that after all that you have been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer, that solves nothing.”
"There's a budget coming in October, and it's going to be painful." The prime minister outlines the government's priorities for the remainder of the year. ➡️ https://t.co/rqox6RoNfI 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/5qOnO5JZmO
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 27, 2024
He went on: “We can get through this together, because the riots didn’t just betray the sickness, they also revealed the cure, found not in the cynical conflict of populism, but in the coming together of a country ...
“And I couldn’t help thinking about the obvious parallels, because imagine the pride we will feel as a nation when after the hard work of clearing up the mess is done, we have a country that we have built together, built to last, that belongs to every single one of us, and all of us have a stake in it.”
Starmer said he will not shy away from making “unpopular decisions” following criticism of his plans to cut the Winter Fuel Payment for millions of pensioners.
The Prime Minister said: “We have made that difficult decision to mend the public finances so everyone benefits in the long-term, including pensioners. Now that is a difficult trade off, and there will be more to come.
“I won’t shy away from making unpopular decisions now, if it’s the right thing for the country in the long-term, that’s what a government of service means.”
However, the Prime Minister insisted that his government would stick to their General Election pledges not to increase income tax, national insurance, or VAT.
He did not specify exactly what “tough decisions” were to be made in the Autumn Budget, saying that he would not want to pre-empt Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcements.
Starmer's warning of a "painful" Budget comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claimed that cuts having to be made in Scotland are "not related" to the UK's financial situation.
On Tuesday, Sarwar gave a speech where he tried to pin the blame for the state of Scotland's finances entirely on the SNP government, despite his boss in Downing Street's speech pinning the blame for the state of the UK economy on the Conservatives.
Ahead of Starmer's speech, the SNP's depute leader Keith Brown said the Labour leader had to take some of the "culpability" for the state of the UK.
“Keir Starmer cannot just wipe away the fact that, during the long years of Tory rule, Labour refused to stand up to them on some of the most damaging policies," Brown said.
“The Labour Party were signed up to the austerity agenda, they backed attacks on the welfare state, and they are refusing to reverse Brexit."
