KEIR Starmer has said that he won’t tax the super rich more in order to redistribute to the poorest if prime minister.
The Labour leader was speaking with ITV's deputy political editor Anushka Asthana ahead of a TV profile to be aired later this week.
The journalist - writing in The Guardian – said she read out a quote from Tony Blair, which read: “It’s not a burning ambition for me to make sure that David Beckham earns less money.”
Asked whether he agreed with that, Starmer replied without hesitation: “No.”
When then pressed on whether – if elected as prime minister at the next General Election – he would want to take more money from the super-rich and redistribute it to the poorest, he again responded with “no”, adding: “I don’t disagree with that.”
He went on: “I don’t think redistribution is the sort of one-word answer for millions of people across the country”.
In July last year, Humza Yousaf branded Labour’s wealth tax U-turn as “disturbing but not surprising” after the party’s shadow chancellor insisted there were “no plans” for one - despite previously advocating for it.
Rachel Reeves also ruled out an increase to the top rate of income tax, one of Starmer’s now-infamous “10 pledges” he made during the party’s last leadership election.
Starmer previously vowed to increase the 45p income tax rate for the top 5% of earners, stating that there would be “no stepping back from our core principles”
The move caused a backlash from the left wing of the party, with Momentum writing on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Four people in this country have more wealth than *20 million Britons*.
“Meanwhile, capital gains are taxed lower than income.
“This is a political choice to favour big business & the 1% over ordinary people. Shameful.”
An ex-Labour MP also said at the time that the move showed the party are tailoring their policies to the English middle class and “abandoning everything they’ve ever stood for”.
