Starmer needs to be honest about shifting his priorities

Make no mistake: Keir Starmer’s appearance yesterday morning was not just a bid to talk up the Budget. It was a fight for his political life.

- DAVID MADDOX

After days of intense political debate about whether Rachel Reeves lied about the state of the country’s finances in the runup to the Budget, the prime minister is grappling with a serious trust issue that could now derail his government - and may well bring forward the moment when Labour MPs try to oust him.

At the speech yesterday morning, most of the media questions were quite rightly focused on whether Starmer and his chancellor deliberately misled the markets, the media, and the public and their own cabinet colleagues - by failing to make clear that the financial picture had significantly improved. But other key parts of the speech will prompt questions about how honest the PM is being about his government's intentions.

For starters, Starmer focused much of his speech on ending the two-child benefit cap. He described the decision as “a matter of pride” and talked about a “moral mission” to end child poverty. He delivered the speech in a community centre, and visited a nursery beforehand, underlining this point.