Labour-linked groups connected to Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham propose significant government policy changes, including tax cuts and cost of living support. These proposals aim to shape the future direction of the Labour Party amid pressure on Keir Starmer to resign.
Key points
Proposals for tax cuts and cost of living support
Groups connected to Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham
Pressure on Keir Starmer to resign
Document titled 'An Honest Day' outlines changes
Rise in capital gains tax proposed to fund national insurance cut
Mentioned in this story
Wes StreetingAndy BurnhamLabour
Groups connected to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, have proposed large changes to government policy, giving a sense of how the country may change should either one succeed Keir Starmer.
The Growth Group, allied to Streeting, and the Tribune group of Labour MPs, allied to Burnham, have published competing visions for how Britain should run, including sweeping tax cuts, help with the cost of living and big reforms to government machinery.
With Keir Starmer under under concerted pressure to stand down, the groups are two of a number of Labour-linked organisations that have proposed radical measures as they try to influence the thinking of a future prime minister.
In a document entitled An Honest Day, Mark McVitie, the director of the Labour Growth Group, which has connections with Streeting, called for a rise in capital gains tax to pay for a 2p cut in national insurance.
Wes Streeting
Wes Streeting on Downing Street on Tuesday morning. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
The document also called for mayors in England to be given greater powers over tax and spending, for the creation of a new Department of the Prime Minister and for ministers to allow Thames Water to fail.
It also made the case for refocusing British energy policy away from how much clean power it can generate to how expensive that clean power is – a potentially significant move away from Ed Miliband’s climate-focused energy agenda.
“Clean power is not the problem,” the document said. “The problem is a system that can build clean generation while failing to get enough of it to households and productive firms at a price they can afford.”
One minister called the report “a really radical programme that backs working people, cuts the cost of essentials, and takes on the interests profiting from Britain not working”.
The report was co-written by Chris Curtis, the MP who chairs the group and one of dozens of MPs to have called for the prime minister to resign in the last 48 hours.
Q&A
What tax changes are proposed by Labour-linked groups?
The proposals include sweeping tax cuts and a rise in capital gains tax to fund a 2p cut in national insurance.
Who are the key figures behind the proposed policy changes?
The key figures are Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor.
What is the significance of the proposals for the Labour Party?
The proposals reflect a push from Labour-linked organizations to influence the party's direction amid increasing pressure on Keir Starmer to step down.
What is the document titled that outlines the proposals?
The document outlining the proposals is titled 'An Honest Day,' authored by Mark McVitie of the Labour Growth Group.
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Curtis is close to Streeting, who has told allies he is ready to launch a bid for the leadership should Starmer’s government collapse. The report is also understood to have been shared with Burnham.
The Tribune group has launched its own policy proposals in a set of essays in the Renewal journal, including ones by the Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Louise Haigh, two of the group’s leaders.
Their proposals include changing the UK’s fiscal rules which determine how much the government can borrow and stripping the Treasury of its responsibility to deliver economic growth.
In her essay, Haigh, the former transport secretary and a key ally of Burnham, argued for reducing council tax and replacing stamp duty altogether with a new form of property tax. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, put abolishing stamp duty at the centre of her speech to party conference last year.
In a joint introductory essay, Yang and Haigh argued: “Britain’s economic settlement is no longer delivering what it once promised”, saying growth had been “too weak, too uneven, and too often driven by asset inflation rather than productive investment”.
However, Labour MPs are not the only ones looking to shape the thinking of a future prime minister.
This week three progressive thinktanks – the Institute of Public Policy Research, the New Economics Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, are all expected to publish papers calling for the government to introduce rent caps in an attempt to reduce living costs.
Louise Haigh
Louise Haigh is part of the Tribune group that is allied to Andy Burnham. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters
Ministers have previously ruled out such an idea, arguing that the government should instead focus on increasing legal protections for renters and building more homes. The Guardian revealed last month, however, that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had been considering an outright freeze on private sector rents for one year.
One left-wing policy expert said: “The fact that ideas that were previously out of reach, such as rent controls, are now being pushed by a range of organisations suggests the ground is shifting towards a more progressive economic agenda.”
The prime minister has been putting the finishing touches on his own king’s speech – the second of his premiership.
The speech is expected to include legislation that would enable Britain to move closer to the EU, new curbs on immigration, the “Hillsborough law” to force public bodies to cooperate with inquiries, and long-promised reforms to the leasehold system.
Government officials have said they do not think the speech, which will accompany the state opening of parliament on Wednesday, can be cancelled, even with the uncertainty over the prime minister’s future.
