Sir Keir Starmer has warned of “painful” measures to come in the Autumn Budget in his first major speech since becoming prime minister, saying “things will get worse before they get better.”
Speaking in the Rose Garden of Downing Street, Starmer blamed the £22 billion shortfall in the public purse which he said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was not aware of when his Labour Party manifesto was written.
Hinting at possible austerity measures to come, the prime minister repeatedly blamed the previous government for the “tough choices” ahead, but would not be drawn on the specifics of how the books might be balanced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget, due on Oct. 30.
Starmer said he would have to make “a big ask” of the country and that people would have to accept “short-term pain for long-term good.”
‘Societal Black Hole’
Starmer said that as well as the economic woes, Labour has inherited a “societal black hole” exposed by the recent rioting, and said his decision to release some prisoners early to ensure there was space to jail some of those involved in the disorder was not something he wanted to do.He added that he was particularly “shocked” at the overcrowded state of the country’s prisons, but said this was something that would take time to fix as he could not simply “build a new prison by Saturday.”
He added that the government’s surprise decision to means-test the winter fuel allowance for pensioners was an example of a “difficult trade-off” needed to fix the economy.
He said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.”
Starmer said that “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.”
He repeated his manifesto pledge that that basic rates of taxes on “working people”—national insurance, VAT, and income tax—will not be increased.
‘Big Asks’
“But, just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution,” he said.Starmer acknowledged that the recent rioting “didn’t happen in a vacuum,” and said that the country had been “infected by a spiral of populism,” which he labelled “snake oil.”
He said some of those involved in this month’s disorder “saw the cracks in our society after 14 years of failure and they exploited them,” comparing it to the 2011 London riots, which broke out when Starmer was director of Public Prosecutions.
Wealth creation would be a priority rather than looking to simply raise taxes, he said, “but we are going to have to take tough decisions. We hadn’t catered for a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.”
Starmer said the nation had been “stuck in the rut of the politics of performance” under the last government and warned that, “Things will get worse before they get better.”
The prime minister did not elaborate on the reasons why he had blocked the appointment of one of the country’s top generals, Gwyn Jenkins, as his national security adviser, or on a number of appointments to the civil service of individuals with Labour links.
Opposition Reaction
The Conservatives responded to the speech, saying on social media platform X: “Politics is about choices. Keir Starmer chose to take Winter Fuel support from pensioners. He chose to spend billions on inflation-busting union pay deals. He chose to give Labour donors unrestricted access to Downing Street. And it’ll be his choice to raise your taxes, too.”Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davy reacted to the speech with a broadly supportive statement, saying that the Tories had “left a toxic legacy” and that “bold and ambitious action” was needed to fix it, particularly in terms of the NHS and social care.
