Blackburn's Adnan Hussain MP blasts Starmer Budget speech

Keir Starmer was speaking from the rose garden at 10 Downing Street when he conceded “short-term pain for long-term good” is needed to address the problems the country faces.

He pointed to a “£22 billion black hole in public finances left by the Conservatives”, while claiming his Labour administration has done more good for the country in seven weeks than the Conservatives predecessors managed in seven years.

However, Mr Starmer’s speech was met with a frosty response by Independent MP for Blackburn Adnan Hussain,

Mr Hussain, along with three fellow independent MPs elected on a pro-Gaza manifesto and exiled former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also now an independent, has written a letter saying Mr Starmer is “choosing to inflict pain and poverty across the country”.

Adnan Hussain and fellow independents have criticised Labour

They call out the winter fuel allowance cuts for millions of pensioners, last week’s energy price cap rise, and not scrapping the two-child benefit cap as examples.

However, besides calling for the renationalisation of the water, energy and mail industries, their letter gives no other suggestions on how the Government can salvage public finances and get the economy moving.

Speaking on Tuesday, Keir Starmer said: “There is a Budget coming in October, and it’s going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we’re in.

“Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that’s why we’re cracking down on non-doms.

“Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up – that’s why we’re strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on the water companies that let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas.Sir Keir conceded his speech would be tough for people to hear (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA)

“But, just as when I responded to the riots, I’ll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution.

“And I know that, after all that you have been through, that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It’s not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer – that solves nothing.”

Mr Starmer doubled down on his pledge not to raise VAT, national insurance or income tax and that his manifesto plans had been fully costed – but it was the “unexpected £22bn black hole” that has thrown a spanner in the works.

In their letter, Mr Hussain and the other independents said: “Politics is about choices – and the government is choosing to inflict pain and poverty across the country.

“We refuse to accept poverty is inevitable. There is plenty of money, it’s just in the wrong hands.

“The government should stand up to greedy profiteers by ending the privatisation of our water, energy, mail and healthcare, keep the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners, and introduce wealth taxes to end child poverty and rebuild public services.

“It was a political decision to starve our public services of resources, and it will be a political decision to repeat this failed economic experiment.

“Austerity is not a tough choice, it is the wrong choice. The right choice is investing in communities to bring about real change.”

Tory leadership contenders rushed to accuse Mr Starmer of “misleading the public” and planning to put up taxes, while the Greens also expressed anger at Labour’s stance.

However, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said the Tories have left a “toxic legacy” and they are “in denial of the scale of challenges facing the country”, while asking for “bold and ambitious action” from Labour.