UK Labour Leader Calls for Parliament’s Recall, Says Truss Danger to Economy

British opposition Labour leader, Keir Starmer, yesterday advised the United Kingdom government to recall parliament, saying “the government has clearly lost control of the economy.”

The Labour leader stopped short of calling for the Prime Minister, Liz Truss and her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng to reign, saying it was a “secondary” issue.

But he said the decisions being taken in Downing Street meant there was “a danger” and the pair “took a huge risk” with their plans, adding: “They’re gambling our money… to give tax breaks to the very rich.”

“This is self-inflicted,” Starmer told Sky News. “What the government needs to do now is recall parliament and abandon this budget before any more damage is done.”

The Sterling fell more than one per cent against the dollar and euro yesterday, after the Bank of England said it would step in to calm the UK’s frenzied bond markets.

“The move by the Bank of England is very serious, and I think many people will now be extremely worried about their mortgage, about prices going up, and now about their pensions,” Starmer said.

The Parliament is currently in recess while the main British political parties hold their annual conferences. It is due to return on October 11. Other opposition parties have also called for parliament to return early.

Liz Truss is a “danger” to the economy and has “lost control” following the fall-out from the government’s mini-budget, Starmer added.

“The idea of unfunded tax cuts for those at the very top inflicting price increases on working people, and anxieties about mortgage and pensions, is something that we would never contemplate as a Labour government.”

Asked if he would consider a wealth tax to fund his own policies, he did say his team were, “looking at what is a fair taxation approach,” for those who earn their cash from stocks, shares and dividends.

Starmer has told Sky News that Truss should “maybe” give the extra money she gets from having the 45p top income tax rate slashed to charity.

As prime minister, Truss earns £164,000 a year which puts her in the 45p income tax bracket – which has just been dropped.

Asked if the PM should give that extra money she would now have to charity, Keir said: “Well, maybe she should.

“What she should do, which is more important than that, is to stop inflicting this damage on working people, because – and that’s the direct action of her government.

“So, what she does personally is up to her, frankly, what she’s inflicting on the rest of the country is what she needs to take responsibility for.”

However, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith, refused to take responsibility for the economic turmoil.

“We think they’re the right plans because those plans make our economy competitive,” he said.

“At the end of the day, that’s ultimately what we’ve got to do.

“What we politicians are responsible for is making the economic decisions that will drive continued growth,” he added.

Lord Clarke, chancellor under John Major, said he was prepared to give Truss’ government a chance but the past week showed they have had a “catastrophic start”.

The Tory grandee told Sky News the mini-budget was a, “serious mistake” and he had never seen a budget cause a financial crash so quickly.

Clarke, who voted for Rishi Sunak to become leader, added that no other Tory government would have made the decisions Truss and Kwarteng have made.

He said he likes Kwarteng and he is a “very clever guy” but said he needs to stand up to Truss and her advisers.

He called on Kwarteng and the Bank of England to make statements now to reassure the country.

Furthermore, he said the Bank of England needs to raise interest rates, and should have done yesterday.

Griffith refused to take responsibility for the financial turmoil the UK has been experiencing since last Friday’s mini-budget.

The Tory MP said: “What we politicians are responsible for is making the economic decisions that will drive continued growth.

“And you know that one of the things that’s bedeviled our economy is inability to reach that top two and a half percent rate of growth.

“It’s happened in the past, happened before the 2008 financial crisis. We can get back to that. “

He said the Bank of England has just been “doing their job” by making “targeted and timely intervention in the market”.

“That’s their decision, but they’ve done so working very closely with the Chancellor,” he added.

“Well, our job is to deliver the growth plan that we set out that’s going to deal with some of the underlying issues of the economy.”

And he said the UK has a “very strong balance sheet” with the second lowest debt to GDP ratio in the G7 and the government now has to “provide people with that confidence”, which he said includes “big interventions to help every single household with the cost of energy”.

He also blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for impacting “every major economy.”