Labour Shadow Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has defended Sir Keir Starmer’s support of Jeremy Corbyn at the last General Election.
He told GB News: “I think Keir was trying to do in the election, let’s be frank, none of us expected to win, was to try to go out there to make the case for excellent Labour candidates up and down the country, to try to make sure we had as many members of Parliament as we could so that we could recover and become contenders for government.
“But in terms of Keir over the last five years and the journey of change he has led the party on I think is absolutely remarkable.
“The party is unrecognisable from 2019 and that is why we now say to voters, Keir Starmer has changed the party, he seeks your trust to change the country.”
On the Institute of Fiscal Studies criticism of the tax plans of all parties, he said: “I actually think that the distinction here is that the Institute for Fiscal Studies is having to just look into the future without departmental spending plans beyond March 2025, because the Conservatives haven’t set them out.
“Now we obviously can’t do that from opposition, we need to open the box. We have been very straight with people as to the difficult choices that and the difficult inheritance that’s going to face an incoming government.
“In terms of tax, we’ve set out very clearly whenever we’ve made a pledge, we’ve been very specific about how it would be funded.
“You’ve been quoting the Institute of Fiscal Studies in terms of our plan for growth, the Institute for Fiscal Studies commented specifically on our proposed planning reforms and actually said all power to our elbow on that.
“What will happen, if we are privileged enough to form a government, the IFS is basing all that at the moment on the Office of Budget Responsibility snapshot from earlier this year.
“If we are privileged enough to get into government, we will set out our growth plans, the Office of Budget Responsibility will then look at those new growth plans of stability, investment and reform and, of course, then with proper spending plans into the future done responsibly, the Institute for Fiscal Studies can look again.”
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