The Tory leadership hopeful has criticised Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves for planning a ‘tax raid on working families.’
Robert Jenrick has claimed that the upcoming October budget will serve as a ‘declaration of war on the middle classes.’ Jenrick accused the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves of orchestrating a ‘tax raid on working families’ after having already targeted the highest earners.
Speaking in central London just before Parliament’s return from recess, Jenrick vowed to ‘sock it’ to both the prime minister and the chancellor if he wins the leadership contest to succeed Rishi Sunak. While Labour has pledged not to increase taxes on ‘working people’ – specifically ruling out hikes on income tax, National Insurance, and VAT – Jenrick pointed out the ambiguity surrounding their definition of working-class people and suggested other taxes could still be increased on October 30.
The government has categorically denied plans to raise taxes on working people. Rachel Reeves has also clarified Labour’s position on the definition of working people saying: “working people are people who go out to work.”
Speaking from Downing Street’s gardens last Tuesday, Keir Starmer warned that the upcoming October budget would be ‘painful’, hinting working Brits should expect tax rises in the short term to fix ‘societal rot’.
Addressing supporters at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, Jenrick criticised Starmer and Reeves. “Labour’s first budget is shaping up to be a declaration of war on the middle classes of this country,” he claimed. He questioned the purpose of raising taxes, suggesting they would fund ‘pointless new quangos’ and cater to ‘union paymasters.’
Jenrick warned that it would soon become clear to the new prime minister that ‘the highest-earning pips have already been squeezed,’ and predicted that the next target would be working families. He highlighted those ‘who get up at six or seven in the morning, juggling childcare, multiple jobs, doing overtime, the people who are starting their own businesses’ as those who would suffer. ‘We must fight against Keir Starmer,’ he urged.
“We must fight against him crushing wealth creators and working people across our country. That is what Conservatives do. We stand up for working people.”
Jenrick claimed Labour lied during their general election campaign: “They stood on a platform of a ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ manifesto, and here we are, just seven weeks later, and they are preparing the ground to raise your taxes.”
Expressing confidence in his party’s future, Jenrick said he believed at his “core” that the Tories could win the next election. When asked if he saw himself as prime minister, he responded, “We can kick out Keir Starmer, we can consign this to a one-term Labour government, and we can get back to leading this country in the right direction.”
However, Robert Jenrick isn’t the only leadership candidate taking the fight to Labour. Dame Priti Patel has scrutinised Keir Starmer after scrapping the winter fuel payments: “He was completely dishonest with his complaints and his claims about the British economy that he has inherited which were clearly made to justify his nasty financial assault on the very people who deserve dignity in their retirement and who have spent their working lives contributing to the very fabric of our nation.”
Tom Tugendhat has also fired shots at the government in recent days saying, “[Labour] want a bigger state, they want to please their union donors, and they want to borrow, tax and spend. Because that is what Labour always do.”
The other candidates standing to be the next leader of the Conservative Party are James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch, and Mel Stride.
