Brexit Reset, Tax on Savers and Winter Fuel U-turn: Starmer’s Weakest Week

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion

Keir Starmer has just had his worst week to date.

And when you think of all the weak weeks Starmer’s had in less than a year at the helm, that’s saying something.

I thought my week had been a frustrating example of the old saying, ‘things come in threes’. Out cycling, my route was catastrophically flipped on its head by a plague – and I mean a plague – of road closures. I then suffered a puncture about six miles from home, thanks to the elongated diversion. The third and final nail in my irritating but not-so-life-changing coffin was discovering an undoubtedly annoying problem with my car.

However, this rather trivial selection of setbacks is no sweat compared to Keir Starmer’s triumvirate of tragedies, which began by surrendering Britain back to the EU and ended with the longest U-turn in history on Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners.

The longest U-turn in history

Eldest first, let’s start with the pensioners.

Surely we’ve all seen it coming. Surely even Starmer’s seen it coming. Starmer’s been on a hit and run from a pride of lions – many coming from his own backbench – ever since he snatched Winter Fuel Payments from poor pensioners.

Even the blood-red Guardian was worried that the cuts would force 100,000 pensioners into poverty by 2030.

But it seems one too many votes have jangled out of Keir’s pockets like loose change. So he’s stopped running away from his problems and announced a U-turn.

Well, I say ‘announced’ – like a guilty schoolboy, Keir only half-admitted his mistake, wrapping up his U-turn in nonsensical spin about ensuring more pensioners have access to the payments.

So, now we can see this whole Winter Fuel Payment saga for what it really is. Starmer is playing politics with the lives of our vulnerable, elderly family members. 

When Starmer’s back was against the wall, thanks to Rachel Reeves conjuring up a £22 billion black hole in the public’s finances, the pensioners were sacrificed to show people he was in control.

Now, when he realises hating pensioners was partly responsible for Labour ending up with a paltry 98 councillors after May’s local elections, he U-turns.

“Scandalous” doesn’t even touch the sides. Of course I’m glad Starmer’s finally completed the longest U-turn in history. But it’s not because he suddenly loves pensioners – it’s because he’s worried about losing his grip over the UK.

Keir’s trying to reverse Brexit

Talking of losing grip over the UK, that’s exactly what Keir Starmer has voluntarily agreed to in his so-called Brexit reset deal.

I know. I thought we were over Brexit by now too. As it transpires, Starmer still has a bee in his bonnet – to the extent that he’s now gone and surrendered the UK back to Brussels.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Free trade is good. Boris Johnson knew that back on Christmas Eve in 2020 when he secured a trade deal that even Laura Kuenssberg – perhaps the toughest nut to crack out of all the BBC’s political journalists – said was ‘the deal both sides wanted to achieve’.

But what Keir Starmer’s signed up to is not about free trade.

British fishermen are locked out of Britain’s own waters until 2038, after Starmer surrendered fishing rights to the EU – which Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch called ‘the biggest prize’.

It’s true that fishing only accounts for 0.04% of UK GDP, but that’s still worth billions of pounds – and it’s worth even more to the generations of British fishermen who have no space to fish thanks to French vessels.

Moreover, to the EU – the second largest market for fish and seafood, worth €38 billion – fishing rights in British waters matter even more.

People will say this doesn’t change much – and that farmers are already suffering too. Whilst this may be the view of one journalist, I highly doubt even Keir Starmer would have the cheek to claim he’s helping farmers after crushing British family farms with an unaffordable tax burden.

Tax rises are coming… again

Talking of tax, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner had eight too many things to say about eight new tax rises in a leaked memo to Rachel Reeves.

Rayner’s ‘alternative proposals for raising revenue’ expose Keir Starmer’s deeply divided Cabinet and attempted to persuade Reeves to impose tax hikes of up to £4 billion on UK taxpayers.

Who are they coming for now? I hear you ask. Well, I was abhorred to see that, this time, it’s savers.

Yes. You work hard every day, every week, every year to save up your money – whether that’s to buy a house, a car, or build up your pension pot for when you retire. And it’s that pension pot that Angela Rayner’s trying to take away.

Rayner wants to restore the lifetime pensions allowance to £1 million – meaning anyone with a pension worth more than that threshold would have to pay a higher tax charge.

This just confirms what we all already know. Labour will give with one hand and take with the other behind your back. Just as pensioners will be relieved to hear their Winter Fuel Payments are coming back, pension pots will be raided once again, if Angela Rayner has her way.

One thing’s for sure. Keir Starmer has lost control.

Rachel Reeves said last week the UK economy is ‘beginning to turn a corner’. This week, we actually find out Britain faces the ‘worst growth among world’s biggest economies’.

Starmer’s lost control of the economy. He’s lost control of our borders and fishing waters. And he’s lost control of his own Cabinet and British taxes.

This is Keir Starmer’s weakest week yet – and it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.