Keir Starmer refuses to take on additional government spending

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer explains his party's politics on Sunday with Laura Kuensberg, BBC1 Current Affairs Show Photo: Geoff Overs/BBC.

Sir Keir Starmer vowed that Labor would be a «responsible economy» party as he refused to commit to spending more of the existing budget on public services.

The Labor leader dodged questions on Sunday about how much more his party was willing to spend on NHS and education issues, and declined to comment on what wage offer he would make to public sector workers.

Sir Keir insisted that he would pursue «bold and reforming» policies to counter what he called the «sticky patch» from conservatives.

But amid a union uprising over his centrist approach to economic policy, he said «of course» that he would be happy to upset his party's left wing if it would increase Labor's chances of winning the election.

Guest broadcast. studios, Sir Keir confirmed he would not change the Conservative two-child allowance cap and said he would wait closer to the general election to announce Labor's approach to the housing allowance, which has been frozen since 2020.

Asked if Labor would spend more in office, he said on the BBC Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: «The Labor government will always invest in our public services.»

When asked if he was calm to being called a «fiscal conservative», he replied, «I don't mind the label people put on me. I want to give my argument.

«My argument is that what was absolutely clear from last year's mini-budget is that if you lose control of the economy, the workers will pay.»

levelsAhead of next year's general election, Labor is trying to convince voters that they are financially conservative and are expected to broadly align with Conservative spending plans in their manifesto to fend off accusations of increasing public spending to unsustainable levels.< /p>

“In order to invest in our public services, we need to develop our economy,” he told the BBC, adding that the last Labor government “boosted the economy and had additional tens of billions of pounds to spend on our public services.”

«That's what I want to replicate: grow our economy so we have profits to use in our public services,» he said. “But this must start with a responsible economy and must be combined with reforms.”

In opinion polls, Labor leads by about 20 points and claims high inflation and slower economic growth are the fault of Conservative governments.

But Sir Keir is also facing an uprising from his party's left. and from unions who say he has moved on from the more radical leadership campaign he led in 2020.

On Sunday, Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, said people can no longer «notice the difference» between the two main batches.

Mick Lynch said he wants the Labor leader to do more to help the poor

«He [Sir Keir] wouldn't dare to mention the word socialism,» he told Sky. News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

«I want this word to be mentioned often, and I want to see the redistribution of wealth in our society, because there are many very rich people and too many very poor people.

«No blank check»

Labor also faced pressure over the weekend from Sharon Graham, head of Unite, who warned «No blank check» for the party and urged her to be bolder.

The union, which is Britain's second largest and Labour's biggest financial backer, wants the renationalization of the steel and energy companies to come first. from the party's priority list, according to the BBC.

In response to Sir Keir's broadcast, the left-wing Momentum faction released a statement calling on the party to accept nationalization as a campaign promise.

«As members of the Labor Party admit, unions and the Conference, fixing [the government's] mess requires real ambition, nationalizing our bankrupt, privatized public services, real investment in our crumbling infrastructure, and ending the scourge of low wages,» the spokesman said.