The budget

Now we need to see your economic plans, Prime Minister

From our UK edition

Keir Starmer once promised to ‘tread more lightly’ on voters’ lives. Yet he presided over a government that raised taxes faster than at any point since 1970. The bill has risen by £74.6 billion since the 2024 general election and there are still three years left of this parliament. Upon entering Downing Street, Andy Burnham promised to do politics differently and ‘bring back hope’. Yet no amount of social media spin can wish away the constraints of the market. The new prime minister has so far avoided Liz Truss’s fate of a bond market panic but parliament has been in recess and Burnham’s plans remain vague. When MPs return on 1 September, he will face scrutiny; the countdown to John Healey’s first Budget, on 28 October, has begun.

PMQs: Boris sidesteps Starmer’s bait

From our UK edition

Keir Starmer tried to use today’s PMQs to set up some future attack lines. First, he again tried to drive a wedge between Boris Johnson and the Covid Recovery Group, asking him to criticise the statements that members of it have made denouncing the lockdown easing plan.  Unsurprisingly, Johnson didn’t take the bait. But if the data continues to surprise for the better, these MPs will become more vocal in calling for a faster end to restrictions. Second, Starmer pressed Johnson to rule out tax rises for families or businesses — an attempt to lay down a marker before next week’s Budget where Rishi Sunak is predicted to announce an increase in corporation tax. Johnson again sidestepped. One can see what Starmer is trying to do on corporation tax.