Labour is heading towards its first budget under Andy Burnham.
Labour is heading towards its first budget under Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)
Brits have been warned that Labour is looking to tax “everything that moves” as the party heads towards its first budget under Andy Burnham. This year’s Autumn Budget will be delivered by Burnham and his recently appointed Chancellor, John Healey, with rising borrowing costs and inflation leaving the latter with difficult choices to make.
TalkTV presenter Petrie Hosken pointed to rumours that there could be an early election so that Labour has the mandate to tax people. New Culture Forum senior fellow Philip Kiszely argued that Labour is planning to increase taxes to help tackle the country’s debt and welfare costs, while warning that the UK could be heading towards a recession.
“That sounds absolutely insane to me. He has no mandate. This is a travesty of democracy and all they desperately want to do is to tax us, mainly because the national debt is absolutely out of control and the interest national debt is going to sink us,” Kiszely said.
“We are literally looking at recession. Benefits and welfare is a huge issue for us and the Labour Party are just looking to tax everything that moves, essentially so they can pay that welfare bill as much as anything else.
“I think it’s about culture as well. The politics is one thing, but it’s driven by a culture and a set of backbenches which say welfare is the most important thing, ‘We absolutely must set aside as much money as we possibly can that and the NHS so everything else needs to be taxed now.'”
Hosken argued that the Labour Party is currently being driven by its backbenchers, claiming that when Keir Starmer suggested slowing the expansion of some benefits, he faced a “complete overthrow” from within his own party.
She then asked Kiszely whether he thinks Burnham will start being pushed from the back as opposed to leading from the front.
He agreed: “Certainly. I think Andy Burnham is just trying to please everybody all the time at the moment. And of course, we know that that won’t work. This is mob rule and identity politics all rolled into one. His backbenchers are incredibly powerful.
Kiszely added: “When the middle earners, the people who pay for most of the things in this country through taxation, if they get despondent, if they just squirrel their money away because there is no confidence anymore, then the economy is going to shrink.
“You cannot grow and develop with tax and spend. Tax and spend is just fighting fires and tax and spend creates other fires.”