Labour’s net zero plan to counter Conservative mini-budget ahead of party conference
Deputy Labor leader Angela Rayner has warned Liz Truss is showing “all the signs of allowing another wave of Tory upsets to happen” after it emerged her No 10 chief of staff Mark Fullbrook was cashing in through his lobbying company.
Also accusing the new Truss administration of “sinking in shame, not even a month in the job”, the Lib Dems’ Daisy Cooper claimed it was “proving that it is nothing but the same as Boris Johnson”.
However, the tax cuts announced in new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday sparked a row within the Labor Party as its annual conference began in Liverpool.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said he would reverse the decision to scrap the top tax rate for the highest earners but keep the planned 1p cut to the basic rate of income tax.
However, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said he believed both should go, saying: “I don’t think it’s a time for tax cuts, it’s a time to support the people through this crisis.”
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That’s us to wrap up today’s liveblog, thanks for sticking around. My colleagues will be back tomorrow morning for the second day of Labour’s annual conference.
All of The Independent’s latest coverage of UK politics can be found here.
Or, keep scrolling to read about the day’s events as we reported them:
Andy Gregory 25 September 2022 20:18
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Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics as the fallout from the mini-budget continues.
Zoe Tidman25 September 2022 09:26
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Andy Burnham calls the mini-budget a “flagrant act of vandalism”.
Andy Burnham criticized the mini-budget and its tax cuts in an interview with Sky News this morning.
“You’ve got a budget that’s pouring billions into the richest people in the country and it’s not actually doing anything meaningful to get people through the fall and winter. So frankly, I can hardly believe it .”
“Having gone through a period of national unity, the way I would describe Friday’s budget was a blatant vandalism on the social cohesion of this country.”
Watch the interview clip here:
Zoe Tidman25 September 2022 09:28
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Andy Burnham says Labor should reverse tax cuts
Andy Burnham has said a future Labor government should reverse the 1p cut in income tax and bring back the 45p rate in a challenge to party leader Sir Keir Starmer, Kate Devlin reports:
Burnham says Labor government should reverse 1p cut in income tax and re-impose 45p rate
Andy Burnham has said a future Labor government should reverse the 1p cut in income tax and bring the rate back to 45p, in a challenge to party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Zoe Tidman25 September 2022 09:54
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Starmer says Labor would return a higher tax rate for top earners
And, on that note, Sir Keir Starmer has announced that a Labor government would bring back the 45p tax rate. for the person who pays the most money.
But it would not reverse the planned 1p cut to the basic fare, reports our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin:
Starmer says a Labor government would bring back the 45p tax rate
A Labor government would bring back the 45p tax rate for the highest earners, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.
Zoe Tidman25 September 2022 09:58
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The UK has a “very big political divide”, says Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer said there was now a “very big political divide”.
“Now the Conservative Party is saying that the future of this country is one where the rich get richer and we don’t offer anything meaningful to working people,” he told the BBC.
“The Labor Party says we have to grow our economy, this has been the biggest failure of the last 12 years of this Conservative government, but we have to recognize who is growing this economy.”
He said Labor would “grow the economy from the bottom up and the middle out” rather than “this theory that it’s only those at the top, the very rich, who create and drive the our economy.”
Zoe Tidman September 25, 2022 10:05 am
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Kwarteng dismisses the question about the mini-budget and the pound
Kwasi Kwarteng has brushed off questions about the pound’s plunge after his mini-budget.
The chancellor said he was “focused on the economy” when asked if he was nervous about sterling falling to its lowest level in decades, falling stock markets and rising government borrowing costs .
“We need to have a much more frontal approach to growth and that’s what my statement on Friday was about,” he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
“I think if we get some of the reforms … if we get business back, we can get this country moving and grow our economy, and that’s my goal 100 percent.”
Here’s a reminder of what happened earlier in the week:
Pound falls to 37-year low as Kwarteng unveils ‘growth plan’ for UK economy
Former Bank of England policy chief warns government’s economic plan ‘will end in tears’
Zoe Tidman September 25, 2022 10:24 am
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Sir Keir Starmer and zero carbon electricity
Back to the Labor leader, here’s Sir Keir Starmer on plans for carbon-free electricity:
Zoe Tidman September 25, 2022 10:43 am
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Starmer calls trickle-down economy a ‘piss off’
Sir Keir Starmer described the trickle down economy as “piss off” as he hit out at new tax cuts announced by the government.
He received cheers, applause and cheers as he spoke to a crowd of delegates ahead of the annual Labor Party Conference.
Rob Merrick, our deputy political editor, reports:
Keir Starmer calls trickle-down economy a ‘piss off’ as he slams Tory tax cuts
Labor has announced plans to end dependence on fossil fuels by 2030
Zoe Tidman September 25, 2022 10:54 am
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Kwarteng denies that the tax cuts favor the wealthiest
Kwasi Kwarteng has denied that his new tax cuts favor those at the top, saying he is “focused on tax cuts in general”.
Told that his mini-budget “overwhelmingly favors the people at the top”, he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “They favor people across the income scale.”
Kwarteng also indicated that there are more tax cuts to come.
The chancellor has denied that the tax cuts favor the wealthiest in society
(AFP via Getty Images)
Zoe Tidman September 25, 2022 11:10 am