Sunday Shows: Starmer says Labour in power face “tough choices” on economy

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Labour leader Keir Starmer said there would be “tough choices” for an incoming Labour government when asked about potential tax rises, as the party would inherit an “economic mess” from the government, meaning Labour cannot do some of things the party wants to do “as quickly as we would want to”.

• On the Tory leadership contenders: “Forgive me if I don’t spend too much of my time in this interview on the ridiculous chaotic circus that is going on at the top of the Tory Party, because my focus is on the millions of people who are struggling to pay their bills.”
• On only the governing party being able to call a general election: “They’ve got a choice to make, Laura, because they can either put their party first or their country first. The country needs change, the country needs stability, the country needs to get rid of this chaos. It’s been going on for the best part of 12 years. We don’t need another change at the top of the Tory party. We need a change of government.”
• Pressed on him not being able to force a general election: “No, of course, it’s up to Tory MPs to decide. But what I said to my party at our conference was very, very clear. We will always put the country first and party second. The Tories are putting their party first again. That’s what’s got us into this problem. They cannot be the solution to a problem that they have created.”
• On whether he is getting complacent: “I reject that. As you know, if you’re in our position, it’s very hard to get seen and heard and the beam of the lighthouse only comes round so often on to the opposition. It came on to us in our conference… and what I think everybody saw was a Labour Party that has changed, a Labour Party that is putting forward the answers to the challenges we face as a country and a Labour Party that has the confidence to govern. Now, I’m not complacent, and I’ve already said to my shadow cabinet that complacency is the enemy. We have to fight for every single vote.”
• Asked whether taxes must rise: “The damage has been done to our economy, and an incoming government is going to have to pick up a real mess of our economy of the Tories making. Now, at the moment, we don’t know the full extent of the damage because we haven’t had an OBR report.”
• Pressed on whether taxes must rise: “Whoever comes in as Prime Minister, we need that OBR report because we all need to see the extent of the damage. What I’ve said from a Labour Party point of view is I know there are going to be tough choices. I said that actually in Liverpool three weeks ago, I said it last week again. Tough choices that mean we can’t do some of things that we want to do as an incoming Labour government as quickly as we would want to.”
• Asked whether spending cuts will be needed: “What I was being clear with my own party and the public is that I know that an incoming Labour government is going to inherit an economic mess from this government, economic damage, and therefore there are things that we would like to do as an incoming government – good Labour things as I’ve described – that we will not be able to do as quickly as we would want.”
• On what his priorities would be in government: “Growing the economy, and the way we would do that is to have a green prosperity plan, which would seize the opportunity – we’ve got a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the next generation of jobs. We’ve got a clean power plan for 2030. That will double onshore wind, that will triple solar power, that will quadruple offshore wind. That is a plan, it’s an ambitious plan that we can do over six years. It will grow the economy across the whole of the country. But I want an economy that works for working people. I do not believe in this theory that it’s only those at the top that create the wealth.”
• On whether he would increase spending on the NHS in line with inflation: “We will set out what we will do with the NHS, but of course the NHS needs more money. It needs more than money… I also know that we need reform. The NHS needs to move to a preventative model.”

Sophy Ridge on Sunday

Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy declared that Tory MPs backing Boris Johnson to return as Prime Minister is a “sign of absolute, utter desperation”, adding that it makes “absolutely no difference” which leadership candidate is eventual chosen as the government is “completely out of energy and out of ideas”.

• On Boris Johnson running for the Tory leadership: “Whether it’s Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak or any of the other contenders who’ve been floating around this weekend, essentially what the Tory Party is about to do is bring the arsonists in to try and put out the fire that they started. It’s just not good enough. We need not just a change of Prime Minister, we need a change of government.”
• On Johnson as the greatest threat to Labour: “I wouldn’t trust Boris Johnson to run a bath, let alone run the country. He degraded and debased our politics. He lost all of that goodwill from the country and from his own colleagues in a very short space of time. It’s extraordinary watching Tory MPs who put in letters of no confidence in him just a few weeks ago saying he wasn’t fit to hold the highest office now talking openly about trying to bring him back. It’s a sign of absolute utter desperation.”
• On who she hopes will become Prime Minister next week: “Keir Starmer is the obvious answer.”
• Pressed on who she realistically hopes will be Prime Minister next week: “It makes absolutely no difference at all who the Tory Party choose. Because even before they crashed the economy and left working people paying the price, we’ve had 12 of low growth and the highest tax burden on working people in 70 years. They haven’t got a clue how to set this right because they’re the people who created this problem in the first place.”
• Pressed on whether it really makes no difference who wins the Tory leadership election: “I don’t think so when you’ve got a government that is completely out of energy and out of ideas. Whoever becomes leader of the Conservative Party in the next week or so is going to inherit the same problem… They’ve got the same tired, failed ideology that got us into this mess in the first place.”
• On whether Labour would spend more on public services than the Tories: “What we’re really interested in is how you can reform public services. Jeremy Hunt, who is currently the Chancellor, is the person who failed to invest in the National Health Service, didn’t bring it up to speed with digitalisation so that we’re spending more to do less. That’s why we’ve said we’ll prioritise when we do borrow, we’re not going to borrow for day-to-day spending, we’re not going to live out with our means. But we are going to prioritise getting investment into our economy so we can get public services working far more efficiently.”
• Asked whether Labour would increase taxes: “The last thing that this country needs is more reckless spending when the government has just crashed the economy… We’re going to think creatively and smartly about how we spend every precious penny, and we’re going to prioritise rebuilding this country.”
• On whether Labour will call for a vote on a general election: “It’s entirely up to Tory MPs now. The tragic fact is that the future of this country lies in the hands of a small number of people who are currently putting party before country. We’re calling on them to put country before party and do the right thing.”