United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer hinted about raising taxes in his Downing Street garden speech.
According to The Guardian, Starmer said that things are ‘worse than we ever imagined,’ warning people of the painful autumn budget on Tuesday, August 27.
The British premier 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. Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that's why we're cracking down on non-doms.”
He hinted about raising the taxes, saying, “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 the long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.”
Starmer further added, “And I know that after all that you have been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer; that solves nothing.”
Blaming the Rishi Sunak administration, he asserted that the last government hid a ‘£22bn black hole in the public finances’ and that due to the Conservative Party's recklessness, we borrowed almost £5bn more than the OBR expected in the last three months alone.’
Since taking power in July 2024, the Labour Party has been continuously criticising the previous government for ignoring these issues before stepping down from office.