TAX CUTS FOR RICH ARE IMMORAL
Star’s fury over budget kick in the teeth to millions... as he backs Starmer for PM
GARY Neville last night blasted Tory tax cuts for the wealthy as millions of ordinary people struggle to make ends meet in the cost of living crisis.
The ex-Man United star said giving high earners cash they do not need will starve public services of vital funds.
He said: “It’s immoral. I don’t know anyone on more than £150,000 who will think it’s the right thing to do.”
Gary, who will appear at the Labour conference in Liverpool today, backed Keir Starmer to become PM.
GARY Neville has accused Liz Truss of giving billions of pounds in tax cuts to people who are already wealthy and do not need extra cash lavished on them.
And the former Manchester United star, himself pretty well off, insisted the PM’s handouts to a few rich people will only deny vital funds to already stretched public services.
In an interview with the Mirror on the eve of an appearance at the Labour Party Conference, Gary blasted Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s decision to scrap the 45p top rate of income tax and to axe the cap on bankers’ bonuses in his mini-Budget.
The cut will give 660,000 people earning more than £150,000 an extra £10,000 a year. Gary said: “It’s immoral to think at this moment in time, tax cuts should be given to the wealthy when people are so nervous and desperate.
“People are struggling to pay their energy bills this winter and they have given the help to people like myself. It just seems like madness.
“I don’t know any person on more than £150,000 a year who will think it’s the right thing to do to basically give us more money.
“They want better public services, better health, education, doctor waiting times to come down.
“I don’t know any compassionate, normal-thinking man or woman who would think with the cost of living crisis and people concerned about food that the right thing to do is to remove the cap on bankers’ bonuses. They are that cruel this government that even wealthy people are bemused. “We know this is not a time for us to be able to get more money. “We have not asked for more money, we have not demanded more money, we weren’t expecting more money. We want to contribute to the country so we can have world-class public services. However, they have been so under-invested in by this government over a 12-year period. They continue to just laugh at us constantly with
what they’re doing. These guys are taking the absolute mickey out of us.
“They are so removed from reality, I just hope finally people recognise how bad and ill-thinking they are.”
Taking a swipe at Mr Kwarteng, Gary branded him “the guy who woke up last week and laughed at the Queen’s funeral on Monday, then went and removed the cap on bankers’ bonuses on Thursday, laughing at the country”.
The Chancellor was caught on camera at the service at Westminster Abbey fidgeting and smirking.
Former England defender Gary, who backs Keir Starmer to become PM and said that cannot come quickly enough, added: “Football at this time is a little bit of a representation of our society.
“We’ve got enough money in football to go around, the top clubs think they should keep it, that it shouldn’t be distributed more fairly to the rest.
There is a lack of fairness and we need to change that. It is the same in society. The Conservative
Party is very good at telling you that green is red and blue is green.
“We’ve got to the point whereby they make you feel like waiting two weeks to see your doctor is a good result. They have depressed our ambitions to such a low. I think we will wake up and look back in years to come at this era and think what the hell were we doing sitting back and not speaking up.
“And that’s why I’m speaking up at this moment.”
Gary said he will use his high profile at the conference in Liverpool to speak for the ordinary people with no voice who were offered little in Mr Kwarteng’s mini-Budget. He will appear alongside Mr Starmer and Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell at an event today.
And he said of the Labour leader: “We get on really well. This is the time now to get behind Keir 100%. He’s shown he has got leadership qualities, he is respected. He is a change that cannot come quick enough. We need change at the top.
“We need to remove the Tory government. Even if you’re not in favour of all of Keir’s policies, he is going to be 100 times better than what we are currently seeing.”
Gary, now a successful TV pundit, hotelier and property developer, insisted he is no “woke leftie”.
He said: “I’m an entrepreneurial business man who likes to make profit, but just believes also that we should have world-class education, health, police, believes that there is enough to go around for everyone to succeed and believe everyone deserves an equal opportunity. I’m a capitalist, but I think we can also be fair, I think we can look after each other.”
It has been suggested Gary, a Labour Party member, could run to become an MP or Greater Manchester mayor if Andy Burnham steps down.
But rejecting the idea, he said: “I think the reason that I can speak more directly and more to the point is because I’m not in politics.
“I think it’s far more beneficial for the Labour Party, as well as for me, to be a bit of a loose cannon on the outside.”
These guys are taking the mickey. They keep laughing at us
GARY ON TORY AID FOR RICH AS POOR STRUGGLE
WEALTH and entrepreneurship give Gary Neville’s furious assault on Liz Truss’s obscene Tory tax cuts for Britain’s richest a devastating edge.
The former football star, now an acclaimed commentator and a successful businessman, understands fairness. That is why he brands as immoral what the Conservatives do now.
Neville never forgets where he comes from and that many people are less fortunate than himself. His savage analysis will have millions of people nodding in agreement, sharing the same disgust at the small fortunes given to a rich few already enjoying huge fortunes.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and “Red Nev” are articulating the national mood, giving a decent alternative to a Conservative Party which is showing its true, nasty colours.
Labour in Liverpool this week are speaking for the hearts – and heads – of the nation.