Labour No Longer Concerned That Spending Will Cause ‘Run on the Pound’ in Raft of U-Turns – Guido Fawkes

Labour No Longer Concerned That Spending Will Cause ‘Run on the Pound’ in Raft of U-Turns

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The government is putting itself in an increasingly financially difficult position with a slew of economic U-turns. In September Commons Leader Lucy Powell explained the decision to cut winter fuel:

“If we hadn’t taken that action we’d have seen a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that are the poorest, including pensioners and those on fixed incomes.”

Powell also said she didn’t see any scenario where that winter fuel payments would be changed. Eight months and a U-turn later Guido asked the PM’s spokesman if Starmer was still concerned about a run on the pound from his upcoming policy reversal and was told “stable public finances have always been the precursor to everything the government has set out in the plan for change.” That’s a no, then…

Neither are there concerns that lifting the two-child benefit cap would cause a run on the pound. The spokesman refused to “get into the specific measures” but assured “that every policy needs to be affordable.” There was no denial that taxes would be raised to pay for those…

Curiously the IMF has today recommended changes to Reeves’ fiscal rules, calling instead for Labour to “establish a formal process so that small rule breaches do not trigger corrective fiscal action outside of the single fiscal event.” Asked if those rules were guaranteed not to change for the whole parliament Starmer’s spokesman said only that they are “non-negotiable and ironclad.” Asked three times to clarify if that meant there would be no changes to the rules, the spokesman could not. We already know Starmer isn’t a fan…