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Is Starmer plotting a wealth tax grab?

Labour leader to target shares and dividends

By Harriet Line Deputy Political Editor

LABOUR could tax wealth more heavily, Sir Keir Starmer hinted yesterday.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference, the Opposition Leader said he was ‘looking at what is a fair way to tax all income, wherever it comes from’.

In an interview with LBC radio, he was asked whether he would ever consider bringing in a wealth tax.

He replied: ‘We are looking at how we tax fairly.

‘On wealth, I am looking at whether and how we tax all different forms of income.

‘Some people obviously earn their income through a wage, other people earn it through stocks and shares and dividends, and we are looking at what is a fair way to tax all income wherever it comes from.’ When it was suggested that it sounded as if he were talking about a wealth tax, he said: ‘No, it is not really a wealth tax.

‘It is looking at different forms of income, it is stocks and shares and dividends.’

Labour has already pledged to reverse the planned cut to the top rate of income tax south of the Border and go ahead with the corporation tax increase that the Government said it would scrap.

Sir Keir’s party would also impose a windfall tax on oil and gas firms and change nondom status for taxpayers.

Speaking to broadcasters on the final day of Labour’s annual conference, Sir Keir said yesterday that his party had become closer to the politics of Tony Blair than to those of Jeremy Corbyn. despite having served in the shadow cabinet of Marxist Mr Corbyn, he said the party now offered ‘centre-ground, commonsense politics’, adding: ‘This is a confident Labour Party that’s done a lot of hard work in the last two years to change our party, remake our party, and people are now looking to the Labour Party for the answers to the very difficult questions that are out there. So this is a Labour Party that can confidently look the electorate in the eye and the electorate are looking back at the Labour Party.’

He claimed delegates at the conference in Liverpool could sense change was in the air, and said: ‘The Government we’ve got has made an absolute mess of the economy and here you’ve got a Labour Party calmly, carefully and with confidence, setting out alternative plans for our economy and for our public services.’

Asked whether he was comfortable saying Labour was closer to the party of Sir Tony than it was to Mr Corbyn, Sir

‘I want us to win the next election’ ‘Look electorate in the eye’

Keir added: ‘I certainly hope so, because Tony Blair won three elections and I want us to win the next election.

‘We are firmly on the centre ground... common-sense politics, practical answers to the challenges the country faces.’

Sir Keir also responded to accusations that he was boring by saying the most exciting thing he has done in his life is witness the birth of his two children.

He added: ‘It was absolutely incredible to see the two most wonderful beings come into the world.’

The party leader said that against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an economic crisis the nation needed a ‘serious person steering the country calmly and competently to a better future’, adding: ‘If I came on here and said I’ve done a bungee jump, you wouldn’t say, “Well, great, now we’ve got the prime minister we need”.’

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2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

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