What do we know about Labour’s tax and spending plans?

Keir Starmer is pinning his hopes on ‘securonomics’ – a dividend from an end to political chaos – as Andrew Grice explains

Keir Starmer warned that Labour would keep a tight grip on spending (AFP via Getty)

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that an incoming Labour government would face “huge constraints” and would not be able to “turn on the spending taps“. In a speech to the Resolution Foundation conference, the Labour leader gave us a glimpse of his thinking in his first detailed statement on the economy since last month’s autumn statement.

What do we know about Labour’s tax and spending plans?

Sir Keir said the Tories’ legacy would be much worse than the one they inherited from Labour in 2010, when outgoing Treasury minister Liam Byrne left a note to his successor saying: “I’m afraid there’s no money.” Debt and interest rates would be much higher than in 2010, he said, with growth stagnant. Economists have suggested Britain is stuck in a “doom loop” in which the highest tax burden for 70 years, with high debt-interest payments, does not result in better public services.