- Starmer refuses to confirm cuts to single-person council tax rebate
- Chancellor’s budget may include more cuts for seniors
- Budget details to be revealed on October 30
The prime minister stated that he would consider everything “in the round” as speculation grows over what spending cuts will be included in the 2019 budget.
Sir Keir Starmer has declined to rule out eliminating the single-person council tax rebate, claiming that public-finance choices must be considered “in the round.”
There has been growing speculation that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first budget, released on October 30, will repeal the 25% tax relief for single persons.
If this is the case, it may have an even greater impact on certain elderly who live alone and have already lost their winter heating subsidies.
Sir Keir stated that he would not “reveal what’s in the budget before we get to it” and denied targeting older Britons with his economic stabilization proposals.
When asked if eliminating the discount would constitute a “punishment beating” for retirees, the prime minister responded, “No, certainly not.
“And let’s just attempt to stop this right now. The budget is due October 30. So, between now and then, you will all ask me, as you did before the election, ‘Would you rule out X, Y, and Z?
“And knowing that I’m not going to state what we’re going to do before the budget, you’ll write a piece titled ‘ Refused to rule out X, Y, and Z.’
“I’m not going to say what we’re going to do before the budget.”
Sir Keir stated that this does not imply “ruling in anything you might be putting to me.”
This means that, like every prime minister, we will announce what is in the budget once we have reached it.
When it was pointed out to him that Ms Reeves had ruled out other potential cost-cutting measures, such as eliminating free bus passes, TV licenses, and medicines, he replied, “We’ve got to look at everything in the round.”
Sir Keir spoke from Washington, DC, where he had arrived for talks with President Joe Biden at the White House about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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His views echo those of his deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, who earlier this month stated that there were “no plans” to raise council tax as a whole but declined to promise that the single-person discount would be maintained.
The discount, worth around £3 billion each year, decreases costs by 25% for taxpayers who are single people over the age of 18 living in their residence, regardless of financial conditions.
The Local Government Association has urged that cash-strapped authorities should be granted the authority to change all council tax concessions, including the single person’s.
Councils around the country are facing cash difficulties, and there are fears that this may worsen as Ms Reeves considers steps to address what she calls a £22 billion “black hole” in the nation’s finances.
After removing the winter fuel subsidy for about 10 million seniors, she has indicated that more spending cuts and tax increases are in the works.
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