Labour’s “straitjacket” manifesto would make Sir Keir Starmer’s first year in office very difficult, Ed Balls has warned.
Sir Keir has explicitly ruled out any rises in income tax, National Insurance and VAT under a Labour government.
Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, Mr Balls, a former Labour shadow chancellor, said the Labour leader and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, face “huge expectations” while giving themselves “little room for manoeuvre”.
“I think people will look back on this manifesto, which is now seen as cautious and careful, and think of it as being something which was very constraining, and a potentially risky thing to do for Labour because this manifesto is absolutely boxing Labour in,” he said.
“It will be seen as a straitjacket, with tough fiscal rules and limits on borrowing, big commitments not to raise income tax or VAT or national insurance.
”For Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves there are huge expectations, no money, little room for manoeuvre, inherited plans which are very tight, and an economy which isn’t growing. So I think that creates a big set of expectations and that is the consequence of the manifesto strategy. This manifesto makes the first year in government for Labour very difficult.”
The party’s plans to raise taxes by more than £8 billion a year, coupled with the £23.5 billion post-election tax hikes already announced by Jeremy Hunt, would leave households facing a £1,100-a-year tax rise, according to the Resolution Foundation, a Left-wing think tank.
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7:33PM
That’s not quite all for this evening…
Thank you for following The Telegraph’s coverage of the Labour manifesto launch.
The political drama doesn’t stop there, however, with the ITV seven-party debate getting underway in just under an hour.
You can follow all of the action here
7:31PM
Lord Cameron: ‘Fundamentals’ of the election campaign are the same
Lord Cameron said the “fundamentals” of the election campaign are the same despite “ups and downs”.
The Foreign Secretary insisted “the more people vote Conservative, the better chance we have” in an interview with Channel 4 News.
He also claimed he had never heard of the phrase “super-majority” amid warnings of a Tory wipeout.
On the Craig Williams row, he said: “I was pretty baffled and unhappy about it. But he has to account for himself to the Gambling Commission and his constituents.”
7:16PM
Keir Starmer: Net migration must fall ‘substantially’
Sir Keir Starmer said net migration must fall “substantially” but he refused to put an “arbitrary figure” on his desired level.
Speaking to GB News, Sir Keir said: “I want it to come down substantially. I’m not going to put an arbitrary figure on it.
Sir Keir Starmer at the launch of Labour’s general election manifesto today
Credit: Oli Scarff
“That’s been done in pretty well every Conservative manifesto for the last few elections and the one thing that is common in those manifestos is the number has ever been hit.
“So I’m not going to put an arbitrary figure, I am going to say the numbers need to come down, they need to come down substantially. They’re way higher now than they’ve been ever before. They need to come down. The way to bring them down is to make sure the underlying drivers such as the skills shortage is dealt with. So that’s what we want to do.”
7:11PM
Lord Frost: Starmer’s plan for growth is built on a dangerous fantasy
I listened to Sir Keir Starmer claiming the Labour manifesto was about economic growth. Once I’d stopped laughing, I couldn’t help thinking of an old episode of Yes Minister in which Jim Hacker is given the job of “transport supremo”, writes David Frost.
His first set of ideas, to rationalise and reform Britain’s transport system, is spiked by the PM because of the effects on his own constituency. Realising he must get rid of the job, Hacker turns despairingly to Sir Humphrey.
“Don’t worry, minister. We now produce the other kind of proposal – the high cost high bureaucracy one. A British National Transport Authority, regional boards, area councils, committees, the lot. Everyone will have a fit. And the job will go back to the Department of Transport.”
And so Labour will behave. Having scorned Liz Truss’s attempt to jolt the economy into growth, Labour thinks that it can achieve wealth creation by direction and control instead.
One of the many achievements of the Tory governments of the 1980s and 1990s was to ensure that such ideas got the mockery they deserved. But since Gordon Brown’s time, they have crept back, and they reached their zenith in the Labour approach announced yesterday.
David Frost: The world of lockdowns and busybodies is Labour’s inspiration
7:03PM
Taxi for Tice
This from the Reform party chairman:
7:03PM
Green Party takes manifesto offline after HIV backlash
The Green Party has taken its manifesto offline amid a backlash to its depiction of HIV.
An easy-read version of the document accompanied a pledge to end HIV transmissions by 2030 with a photograph of a man looking visibly unwell and coughing.
A Green Party spokesperson told Sky News: “Soon after publication we were alerted to how an image we used in our easy read manifesto could be misinterpreted.
“For clarity we temporarily took the manifesto down to replace this image with a more suitable image that better communicates our policy to work towards no more HIV transmissions by 2030.”
6:58PM
Keir Starmer: We will implement Cass review in full
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to implement the findings of the Cass review in full.
The landmark report by paediatric consultant Dr Hillary Cass was published in April and concluded that children who think they are transgender should not be rushed into treatment they may regret.
Its 32 recommendations included calling for the “unhurried” care of those under 25 who think they may be transgender; an end to the prescribing of powerful hormone drugs to under-18s; and early help for primary school children who want to socially transition.
Asked whether the Cass review would be introduced in its entirety, Sir Keir said: “Yes, and that is what our manifesto says.”
6:52PM
Starmer: ‘Everything’ about Brexit deal will need negotiation
“Everything” about Britain’s deal with the European Union will have to be negotiated,