Does Keir Starmer know what a working person is?

First, Keir Starmer struggled to define what a woman is. Now, he’s having difficulty explaining what counts as a working person. Ahead of next week’s Budget, the Prime Minister has been accused of tying himself in knots over who will be expected to carry the burden in the Budget. During the general election campaign, both Starmer and his chancellor Rachel Reeves regularly said the tax burden on ‘working people’ was too high. In the manifesto, the party pledged to protect ‘working people’ from paying more. Now ahead of a tax-raising Budget (Reeves is expected to try to raise £35 billion through tax), Starmer is under pressure to explain who exactly this refers to. Those who don’t fall into the category could find their taxes going up significantly.

The responses from the government have been mixed. Those who have so far had their working person status questioned include high earners (100k or more), business owners and the asset rich.