UK ‘sick man of Europe’ again, says Starmer
France and Germany have faced the same problems but have already bounced back, Labour leader insists
‘It’s always the sticking plaster, never the cure, and today’s Budget does nothing to change that’
SIR KEIR STARMER has warned that Britain is becoming “the sick man of Europe once again” as he accused the Tories of using the Ukraine war as a “blanket excuse for failure”.
Responding to Mr Hunt’s Budget in the Commons, the Labour leader said the “hopelessly divided” Government had put the country on a “path of managed decline”, and Jeremy Hunt’s Budget was merely “dressing up stagnation as stability”.
He added that “endless fighting on tax” among Conservatives was “bad for growth” and “real stability means that taxes don’t go up and down like yo-yos”. He also said that government decisions had “hurt working people” facing the cost of living crunch.
He said Labour is “of course” on the side of Ukraine, and supported military spending commitments, buthe demanded that the conflict was not used to explain bad Tory choices.
“What we cannot accept is the use of the war as a blanket excuse for failure,” he said.
Sir Keir suggested the UK was hit harder than other nations by global crises because its economy has a “weak foundation”, pointing out that “wages in this country are lower now in real terms than they were 13 years ago”.
The average “French family is onetenth richer, the average German family one-fifth richer – countries which faced the same pandemic, countries which faced the same war. The war didn’t ban onshore wind, the war didn’t scrap our home insulation scheme, the war didn’t run down our gas storage facilities.”
They were “decisions which hurt working people battling the cost of living crisis”, the Opposition leader said.
“It’s been the same story for the whole 13 years. Always the sticking plaster, never the cure, and today’s Budget does nothing to change that.”
The Tories were “caught between a rock of decline and a hard place of their own economic recklessness”, he said, as he anticipated the next election: “Their expiry date looms ever closer.”
Sir Keir also said the Chancellor’s “boasts” about lowering inflation were “ridiculous” and accused the Government of using tax cuts to seize “credit” for this downward movement.
“The idea that it’s a tax cut – British people can see through that,” he said. “They know it’s not the Government that’s lowering inflation, it’s working people earning less, enjoying less.
“It’s their sacrifice that is helping to bring inflation down, and they deserve better than another cheap trick from the Government of gimmicks, making them pay whilst trying to claim the credit.”
Sir Keir said after 13 years of Tory power, Britain’s economy needs “major surgery – but like millions across our country, this Budget leaves us stuck in the waiting room with only a sticking plaster to hand”, he said.
“A country set on a path of managed decline, falling behind our competitors, the sick man of Europe once again.”
He welcomed “more money in the system” for childcare but said it is “no use” having more free hours “if you cannot access them”.
The Labour leader also said the Chancellor’s “big spending commitment” on pensions would “benefit those with the broadest shoulders”.
“We needed a fix for doctors but the announcement today is a huge giveaway to some of the very wealthiest [in society],” he said.
“The only permanent tax cut in the Budget is for the richest 1 per cent.”
Sir Keir said investment allowances were preferable to a “blanket cut” to corporation tax but he accused the Government of plaguing businesses with “instability” when they need “certainty”.
He said: “The question many businesses will ask today is: how long before the wind blows again and we go through all this again? And that’s what they [the Tories] don’t understand about business investment. Their endless infighting on tax is bad for growth, in and of itself.”