WORKING people can have savings, Sir Keir Starmer declared today in his latest 24-hour flip-flop.
At a campaign event in Swindon, the Labour chief rowed back his claim that the working man has no money in the bank.
PASir Keir Starmer U-turned on his definition of a ‘working class person’[/caption]
PAHe met shoppers at a branch of Morrisons alongside Rachel Reeves[/caption]
Labour has vowed not to hike income tax, national insurance and VAT on “working people”.
Sir Keir’s original definition of the group, given on Tuesday, was: “People who earn their living, rely on our [public] services and don’t really have the ability to write a cheque when they get into trouble.”
The comments on LBC sparked fears that the two-thirds of Brits who do have some quid in the bank could be hit by hefty hikes as Labour would not classify them as “working”.
But today the Labour chief clarified: “Of course people have savings.
“If you’re a working person, you have savings.
“You’ve worked hard, you’ve saved hard, you’ve put that money aside probably for a holiday, for a birthday, perhaps to get a new car, to possibly put down as a deposit on a house or your children’s house.”
He added: “Of course, people with savings are included in our definition of working people.”
Last night the Tories accused Sir Keir of having “let slip” his “true plans” to unleash a tidal wave of tax hikes.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Under pressure, Starmer has finally made it clear that Labour would raise taxes on millions of hardworking people who they don’t deem to meet their narrow and misguided definition of ‘working’”.
Sir Keir hit back: “This attack is just – I can’t believe how they so misunderstand how people save and how valuable those savings are for people.
“Nobody wants to use their savings to pay the bills of the day because the government’s lost control of the economy.
“So I’m afraid that’s an attack which has backfired spectacularly in terms of showing just how out of touch they are.”
Sir Keir hit back at Tory claims he would hike taxes for millions by £2,000