The Prime Minister faced a ferocious backlash after suggesting those who own shares, property and savings are not ‘working people’, and indicating that anyone with more than a few thousand pounds in assets was fair game for tax rises in next week’s Budget.
Labour has pledged to protect ‘working people’ in the October 30 statement when Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning to hike taxes by a staggering £35 billion.
But asked to define the term yesterday, Sir Keir said it included someone who ‘goes out and earns their living, usually paid in a sort of monthly cheque’, but who does not have the resources to ‘write a cheque to get out of difficulties’.
Asked if someone who derives their incomes from assets, such as shares, property or savings would qualify as a working person, the Prime Minister said: ‘They wouldn’t come within my definition.’
His spokesman later scrambled to clarify that those with a ‘small amount of savings’ could still be defined as working people. This could include cash savings, or stocks and shares in a tax-free ISA, he suggested.
But landlords labelled the PM’s comments ‘insulting’ and ‘out of touch’. The focus on so-called ‘working people’ also alarmed pensioners, 10 million of whom have already been stripped of their winter fuel payments by Ms Reeves in her first act as Chancellor.
Tory MP Richard Holden said: ‘It appears that anyone with enough to pay for a minor emergency does not meet Sir Keir’s criteria of a “working person” and will be liable for big tax rises next week.’...<<<Read More>>>...