Starmer hints at tax rises as he warns of budget pain after '14 years of rot'

Keir Starmer has given his strongest hint yet of tax rises to come in October's budget, warning he will have to make "painful" decisions after finding what Labour says is a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

- Kiran Stacey

Giving his first major speech from No 10 since becoming prime minister, Starmer said yesterday it would take years to clean up after the previous Conservative governments, which he said had overseen "14 years of rot".

Speaking from a sunny Downing Street garden to about 50 members of the public he had met during the campaign, he drew a contrast between his speech and how the garden was used under Boris Johnson, when it hosted lockdown-breaking parties.

But while the weather and the mood were upbeat, the prime minister's message was pessimistic.

Starmer said: "There is a budget coming in October and it's going to be painful. We have no other choice, given the situation that we're in.

Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, and that's why we're cracking down on non-doms [by making it harder to claim non-domiciled tax status]."

He added: "I know that after all that you have been through that is a really big ask and really difficult to hear. That is not the position we should be in. It's not the position I want to be in, but we have to end the politics of the easy answer, that solves nothing."