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Politics.co.uk

Labour’s first budget shows Starmer is coming for the populists

Politics.co.uk
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71% Informative

Labour will raise taxes by 40 billion and borrowing by 30 billion to fund 76 billion worth of new public spending.

An extra 22 billion a year will be spent on day-to-day NHS running costs, with another 3 billion for capital investment.

Overall, public spending will settle at 44 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade .

Labour is going all in on the so-called “hero” voters who switched to them at the general election.

They are economically insecure and politically unsure; i.e. the epitome of Britain ’s electoral volatility.

But perhaps a government needs to indulge in a little economic populism to thwart its more menacing associate, political populism.

Faragism does not have a political economy — or one it likes to pronounce on publicly.

UKIP , the UKIP and Reform were extra-parliamentary, quasi-single-issue groupings.

But with a parliamentary bridgehead established, Farage has to change.

It means the budget was a critical moment for Farage — and for Starmer ’s capacity to stop him.