KEIR Starmer laughed off his internal critics over plans to keep draconian Tory benefit rules during an interview with Tony Blair.
The Labour leader delivered the final speech of the day at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change’s conference in London on Tuesday and criticised his opponents over plans to keep the two-child benefits limit.
In a question and answer session with the former prime minister, Starmer laughed when he spoke about the “tough decisions” he said a future Labour government would be forced to take.
Starmer is facing fury within his party – reportedly from some of his shadow cabinet – after he said he would not get rid of the limit on the amount of child tax credit or Universal Credit parents with more than two children could claim.
But he faced down his opponents, describing the anger which has erupted among Labour MPs as a “row” and said backing the harsh policy – estimated to have affected 1.5 million children since its introduction – would assuage concerns in industry about the spending plans of his party.
READ MORE: 'Two cheeks of same backside’: Alba leaflet takes swipe at Tories and Labour
He said: “The missions are strategic, long term, they’re about what change you’re going to make – growing the economy, NHS of the future, green power, smashing the class ceiling and security in our communities and also the ‘how’.
“How are you going to do this, how are you going to get business to partner alongside you and deliver on these missions.
“That’s why we’re having a row at the moment about tough choices, because we need to create the stability in our economy that is absolutely vital as a stepping stone to getting onto those missions.”
He added: “We keep saying, collectively as a party we’ve got to take tough decisions. In the abstract, everyone says: ‘That’s right Keir.’
“And then we get a tough decision – we’ve been in one of those for the last few days – and they say, ‘I don’t like that, can we not just make that one, I’m sure there’s another tough decision somewhere else we can make.’
“But we have to take the tough decisions. This isn’t some sort of reflection on some focus group that says we’d like Labour to have an economic straitjacket on – it’s the fundamentals.”
Starmer argued that a future Labour government would be severely restricted in its spending ability because of the economic damage caused by 13 years of Tory governments, the effects of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the disastrous Liz Truss budget.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel