Keir Starmer says Labour's manifesto commitment to protect "working people" from tax rises doesn't cover property owners.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer claims landlords are not working people, and will not be protected by his party’s pledge not to raise tax. Labour’s manifesto promised that “working people” would not see any increase in income tax, national insurance or VAT.
But it has become unclear who is covered by the term ‘working people’, and when pressed, Starmer said "landlords were not covered".
He was asked by Sky News whether “someone who works but gets their income from assets as well, such as shares and property” was a working person. His response was “well, they wouldn’t come within my definition. I think people watching this will know whether they’re in that group or not. Those people who work hard and are anxious about whether they can make ends meet, and know that should something happen to them and their family they can’t write a cheque to get out of the problem.”
There is speculation about what tax measures Chancellor Rachel Reeves will introduce in this week’s Budget, and whether property investors will end up paying more tax.
Earlier, James Murray, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, was unable to say whether those who rent out properties would be covered by Labour’s manifesto promise, the Daily Telegraph reports.
He was asked six times who a “working person” was, and told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “as the Chancellor has said, working people are people who go out to work for their income.”
When asked whether landlords work, he replied “we were very clear in the election in terms of our manifesto promises that we wanted to protect working people.”
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Paul Shamplina and Ben Beadle echo industry sentiment that landlords, many of whom hold down day jobs as well as owning BTL properties, do work for their income.
Keir Starmer’s comments in recent days that those who earn income from property are not ‘working people’ – and are therefore exempt from Labour’s manifesto promise – are wrong, industry experts have said.
This includes TV presenter and Landlord Action chief Paul Shamplina who has said the PM’s claims are misplaced.
He told Paul Collins’ Talk TV show on Friday that "NRLA figures show that most landlords also have day jobs, with 30% of landlords having full time jobs, 10% working part time, 28% being are self-employed while 35% are retired and use their property income as a pension. You also have to remember that official figures show the vast majority of Britain’s 2.7 million landlords – 85% – have been between one and three properties and are not multi-millionaires.
Most landlords have taken financial risks to invest in homes for renters and let’s remember that being a self-managing landlord, which many are, is a 24-hour a day commitment and you have to take on a range of roles from being a compliance officer, credit controller, tradesperson and contract manager, to mention a few. It is a job and the vast majority of landlords are working people and the unintended consequence of the anti-landlord rhetoric around at the moment is that more landlords will sell up and tenants will be chasing fewer and fewer properties.”
His comments were echoed the NRLA’s Chief Executive Ben Beadle, who says “it is simply not true that landlords are not working people. Rather than stoking misconceptions, the Government needs to focus instead on the key challenge in the rental market, namely a lack of homes to rent to meet ever growing demand.”