Stephen Glover has written a blistering column for the Mail about Labour’s torrent of Left-wing policies, none of which were in its manifesto. Here’s how it begins:
On the morning of July 5th Sir Keir Starmer stood outside No. 10 and addressed the nation. Even flinty-hearted Tories may have been momentarily moved.
His short speech marked the beginning of a new age, and the end of the Conservatives’ final undignified months in which incompetence, sleaziness and corruption combined in a fatal brew.
The new Prime Minister spoke of the need for “trust”, as he had also done earlier that morning, after being declared the runaway winner in his North London constituency.
Now he referred to a lack of trust as a “wound”, and declared that Labour would “carry the responsibility of your trust, as we rebuild the country”.
Trust and integrity were catchwords not only of Labour’s election campaign but also of Sir Keir’s appeal to the British people from the days when Boris Johnson was prime minister. He has presented himself as a trustworthy, dependable politician devoted to public service, and in every way morally superior to his Tory counterparts.
What do we think of his sales pitch now?
I ask because no government in recent history has in such a short period of time veered so far from the manifesto on which it was elected. Almost every policy announcement – and there have been many in six action-packed weeks – has either come as a complete surprise, or gone further than the electorate could reasonably have expected.
During the campaign Sir Keir adopted a super-cautious ‘Ming vase strategy’ characterised by a terror of revealing his real plans to voters, who might have been put off by the truth. As soon as July 5th passed, the Ming vase was allowed to crash to the floor. Labour emerged in its true colours.
The most abrupt departure from the party’s painstakingly calculated approach has been over taxation. Labour insisted on the hustings that there wouldn’t be any increase in income tax, National Insurance and VAT. It “would not raise taxes on working people”.
On May 28th, in her first speech of the campaign, Rachel Reeves, now Chancellor, was specific. She promised that if Labour won the election there would be “no additional tax rises” beyond those she had already announced for private school fees and non-doms.
Now leaks abound that some taxes on capital gains, pensions, and inheritance, as well as stamp duty and council tax, will go up when Ms Reeves unveils her budget on October 30. Many of the casualties will certainly be “working people”.
The Chancellor has admitted – as she did not during the campaign – that taxes will have to rise, telling a podcast on July 30: “I think we will have to increase taxes in the Budget.”
Is all this in keeping with Sir Keir Starmer’s undertaking to restore trust? Is it a demonstration of integrity to introduce draconian tax increases that were deliberately concealed in the campaign? The people will judge. Many may think it a cynical deception.
The dishonesty spreads far beyond taxation. Three weeks ago, Rachel Reeves announced the abolition of the winter fuel allowance for all but the very poorest pensioners. Nearly ten million people will be affected. The Chancellor believes the measure will save the Exchequer £1.4 billion a year, though some experts doubt this.
Nowhere in Labour’s manifesto is there the slightest hint that pensioners would be targeted. Ms. Reeves herself, admittedly seven years ago, pledged unequivocally to defend winter fuel payments.
And as recently as last November, her deputy at the Treasury, Darren Jones, was angry when it was falsely rumoured that the Conservative government was about to get rid of them. He tweeted that pensioners “mustn’t be forced to bear the brunt of Tory economic failure”.
Worth reading in full.
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