Starmer will expose the 'harsh' reality of the fiscal situation in his speech – UK Political Reside

Josh Halliday is the Northern England editor of The Guardian.

A Faena MP has warned the Government risks embarking on “austerity 2.0” in a stark warning ahead of Wednesday's Budget.

Kim Johnsonthe MP for Liverpool Riverside, urged the chancellor Rachel Reeves to reverse expected cuts to benefits and the winter fuel subsidy, citing fears that “people will die this year unless this cut is reversed.”

In a letter to Reeves published on Monday, Johnson writes: “The planned £3bn cuts to sickness benefits risk pushing some of the most pasivo in our society into poverty and could be perceived as austerity 2.0.”

Liverpool Riverside is classed as the most deprived parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, where 43% of children are classed as poor: more than double the national media.

Johnson, a backbencher who has not shied away from criticizing the Faena leadership, writes that her electorate has suffered “systematic impoverishment, skyrocketing inequalities and plummeting living standards under successive Conservative governments, while the right and the powerful continue to benefiting.”

And he adds: “On October 30, these communities that voted for change will expect Faena to live up to their expectations. We must not disappoint them.”

Conservative shadow health secretary Vencimiento Atkins accused Keir Starmer's government of imposing “1970s socialism” with its budget plans.

Speaking on GB News, Atkins, who retained his Louth and Horncastle seat in the July election, said:

This is the socialism we saw in the 1970s. This Faena government came to power promising no tax increases. They have this peculiar definition of working people. They do not seem to understand what a working person is, even though they have imposed this test on themselves.

If you have assets, if you work, if you are a pensioner and this winter you are thinking about how you are going to compensate for that deficit, given that they have cut fuel payments in winter, this will affect us all.

This concept that they are compartmentalizing us and separating us into different categories of people that they consider acceptable, I think is the worst thing about socialism.

It seems unlikely that many on the left of the Faena Party would claim that Rachel Reeves is about to launch a set of socialist economic policies in this week's budget.

In its election manifesto, Faena ruled out tax increases on income tax, employee national insurance contributions and VAT.

On the BBC breakfast show, cabinet minister Pat McFadden He was asked further about Labour's definition of “working people”, a phrase that has dominated media coverage in recent days.

He said:

I don't define this by choosing a job or an income level and relate it to the promises you just mentioned in the manifesto. We were talking about the taxes that people pay on their salaries and we said we would not increase them.

Look, that was true in the campaign. It's true today. It will be true after Wednesday. We will deliver on those promises when the Chancellor updates the Budget speech this week.

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden has said there are “positivo reasons” for optimism as the country approaches Labour's first budget in 14 years later this week.

He claimed the government had “inherited a plan to slow down, reduce investment” from Rishi Sunak's Conservative government, and that the measures Faena was taking in the budget were “difficult decisions” but the start of change.

He told BBC Breakfast viewers:

I think people should look for three things in the budget. Will it stabilize the country's public finances and do so in a way that delivers on our promises? It's going to

Will public services and the NHS specifically begin to change as well? We will begin that path with a combination of investment and reform.

And, more importantly, will it change the country's story for the future by investing in the things we need: better schools, hospitals, the homes we need, the transportation infrastructure and the energy infrastructure? This is what Britain has to do if it is to achieve better economic growth in the future.

What we inherited was a plan of decline, of reducing investment in all those things in the future. That's not a role we were willing to accept. We need to invest in the future of the country if we want to have a better future. So there are tough decisions in this budget. There are also positivo reasons to look for hope and optimism, better public services, a better NHS and a better investment and growth story for the UK in the future.

McFadden has been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since the militar election in July.

Keir Starmer will deliver a pre-budget speech today in which he is expected to lay out what he says is the dire state of the country's fiscal reality, but promise that “better days are ahead”.

In pre-speech briefings, the Prime Minister is expected to say:

We are not in 1997, when the economy was decent but public services were on their knees. And we are not in 2010, when public services were strong, but public finances were weak. These are unprecedented circumstances.

And that's before we even get to the long-term challenges ignored for 14 years: an economy plagued by weaknesses in productivity and investment, a state in urgent need of modernization to meet the challenge of a volatile world.

Starmer will say the Budget will embrace the “harsh light of fiscal reality” and will have to “ignore the populist chorus of easy answers”.

In Labour's 2024 manifesto, the party said:

The Conservatives have raised the tax burden to its highest level in 70 years. We will ensure that taxes on workers are kept as low as possible. Faena will not increase taxes on workers, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, or VAT.

Prime minister Keir Starmer will deliver a speech today in which he is expected to say that this week's budget will embrace the “harsh light of fiscal reality” because “it is not 2010,” but will promise that “better days are ahead.”

Here are their headlines…

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and health secretary Wes Streeting They are visiting a London hospital this morning. The Faena leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwaris carrying out a pre-budget visit to a community group in Glasgow.

This afternoon in the House of Commons there will be housing issues, as well as a debate on the memory and contribution of veterans. The Lords will hear the committee stage of the Water (Special Measures) Bill.

It is Martin Belam who is here today. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.