Starmer accuses Sunak of ‘vanity’ as pressure grows to set election date
Sir Keir Starmer has accused the Prime Minister of putting “vanity before country” by not announcing an election date and suggests he is trying to run up two years in Downing Street.
Speaking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the Labour leader said he wanted to see a general election held “as soon as possible”.
It comes after Rishi Sunak said earlier this week that he is working on the assumption that he will hold a general election “in the second half of this year”.
In response, Sir Keir said: “I have to say, the Prime Minister is sort of almost taking himself out of this – the ‘working assumption’ is as if it is somebody else’s working assumption.
“If he had a plan, he would set the date and he should set the date because at the moment it is very hard to see how him continuing in Government improves the lives of anybody in the country, so there is drift.
“I can’t help feeling that all he really wants to do is to get two years clocked up of his own premiership, and that means he is putting vanity before country.”
He said his challenge to the Prime Minister would be that “if you’ve got a plan, set the date”, adding: “If you haven’t got a plan, just get on with it as quickly as possible.”
Pressure is growing on Mr Sunak to call a general election, which is due some time in 2024 but could be held as late as 28 January 2025.
Many had speculated that the Prime Minister could call the poll to take place on 2 May – the same time as the next round of local elections.
Last week, Labour claimed a spring vote was the “worst kept secret in Parliament”, while the Liberal Democrats have called on Mr Sunak to hold the vote in May.
Speaking on Sunday, Sir Keir also accused the Prime Minister of floating tax cuts to create a “dividing line” with Labour ahead of the next election.
“What you are seeing at the moment from the Prime Minister is he is floating tax cuts,” he said.
“But he is doing that in his own self interest. He has run out of ideas. They are desperately thrashing around and trying to find the dividing lines to go into the election.”
The Labour leader claimed Mr Sunak was “simply picking tax cuts that the Prime Minister thinks might create a dividing line going into the election” and said this was “the wrong way to govern”.
“Whichever party you are in, it doesn’t matter whether you are Conservative or whether you are Labour, to simply go down the road of desperately picking anything that creates a divide rather than having a strategy for the country is characteristic of what has gone wrong over the last 14 years,” he continued.
The Prime Minister used his first public appearance of 2024 to draw a dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour on tax ahead of the planned cut to national insurance.
He told a group of voters: “This Saturday, a big tax cut is coming in, every working person across the country is going to benefit from it.
“It’s worth £450 to an average person in work on the average salary,” he said.
“We want to do more because as we manage the economy responsibly, we can cut your taxes, give you and your family peace of mind, immediate relief from some of the challenges you’re facing and confidence that the future is going to be better for you and your children. That is the journey that we’re on.”
