Speaking in Bury as Labour launched its local elections campaign, party leader Sir Keir Starmer urged voters to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” by backing Labour at the polls.
Sir Keir used the campaign launch to pile more pressure on the government over the cost-of-living crisis, claiming that families will be £2,620 worse off every year under a Conservative ministry and that Labour was “on the side” of the British people.
Although the £2,620 claim cannot be verified, the Office for Budget Responsibility has indicated that living standards will face their biggest decline since 1956, with household incomes falling by 2.2 per cent over 2022.
Sir Keir also labelled the Tory government’s response to help households deal with rising prices as “pathetic”, reiterating that Labour would have placed a windfall tax upon oil and gas companies to subsidise household bills.
Some of the measures that chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in the Spring Statement to help ease the impact of inflation included a 5p fuel duty cut and a raising of the National Insurance payments threshold.
Addressing the British public, the Labour leader said: “Labour would tackle the Tory cost-of-living crisis by cutting your bills by up to £600 funded by a windfall levy on the excess profits of the oil and gas companies.
“In exactly five weeks, you get the chance to send the Tories a message they cannot ignore - a message that Britain deserves better than the pathetic response we got to the Conservative cost-of-living crisis in the mini-Budget.”
Sir Keir also accused the government of taking “far more than it gives to working people”, referring to the chancellor’s decision to press ahead with the National Insurance hike despite the squeeze on personal finances.
The local council elections take place on May 5 in England, Scotland and Wales, while in Northern Ireland the Assembly elections will be held on the same day.
The upcoming elections will come as a major litmus test for the Conservatives in particular, who have recently come under fire for the pace of sanctions being taken against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, the emergence of the cost-of-living crisis and rampant inflation, and the Partygate scandal.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
