British PM Starmer warns of 'painful' budget ahead in keynote speech

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday gave the first indication of some tough tax measures in store in the October budget in the first keynote address of his premiership since taking charge at 10 Downing Street last month.

In a planned speech at the Rose Garden before a gathering of apprentices, medics and other professionals, Starmer declared the state of the public finances was left in a much worse condition by the previous Conservative Party regime than the Labour government had expected.

He declared that his job was now to fix the foundations which would involve "short-term pain for long-term good" and admitted that "unpopular" decisions would have to be made.

"There is a Budget coming in October and it is going to be painful. We have no other choice given the situation that we are in,” said Starmer.

"I promised that this government would serve people like you – apprentices, teachers, nurses, small business owners, firefighters, those serving our community and our country every day," he said, with reference to the Downing Street gathering.

The keynote, timed a week before Parliament resumes after its summer recess next week, was designed to assert that “it won’t be business as usual because we can’t go on like this any more”.

“Things will have to be done differently. We will do the hard work to root out 14 years of rot, reverse a decade of decline and fix the foundations. Between now and Christmas, we will carry on as we started: action not words. We will introduce legislation and take decisions to protect taxpayers’ money,” said Starmer.

Referencing the recent far-right riots across different parts of the UK, the former barrister and chief prosecutor said the violent clashes didn’t just “betray the sickness” left in the wake of the former government's “cynical conflict of populism” but also revealed that the cure was to be found in the "coming together of a country".

“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… This is our country. Let’s fix it – together,” he noted.

Addressing media queries after the speech, Starmer reiterated that the tough economic decisions ahead were down to a GBP 22 billion “black hole” left at the end of 14 years of Tories in charge.

"We were being honest about the situation before the election, we set out very clearly what we would be doing with tax rises,” he said, stressing that his commitment not to put up income tax, National Insurance or VAT “remains the position” and “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden”.

“Obviously the Budget is in a number of weeks and the detail will be set out there,” he said, with reference to the Autumn Budget Statement scheduled for October 30.

In his choice of Downing Street's Rose Garden “once used for lockdown parties” as the venue to condemn the “last government's recklessness”, the UK Prime Minister's aim was to draw a clear line between how things were done under the Conservatives and how he intends to govern.

Within minutes, the speech attracted one of the first responses in weeks from Starmer’s predecessor at Downing Street, interim Opposition Leader Rishi Sunak, who took to social media to attack Labour’s tax raising plans.

“Keir Starmer's speech today was the clearest indication of what Labour has been planning to do all along – raise your taxes,” the British Indian leader posted on X.