Starmer to launch local election campaign with claim Labour is ‘party of lower taxes for working people’ – UK politics live

Latest updates: Labour leader to launch campaign for local elections with tax pledge that Conservatives have criticised as worthless

Good morning. Keir Starmer is launching Labour’s campaign for the local elections today with a pledge with a pledge that is simultaneously complete nonsense, but also an interesting piece of political positioning.

In an overnight press release Labour says Starmer will announce that the party “would freeze council tax this year if in government, a move funded by a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants”.

There is a choice on tax. A Tory choice – taxes up for working people, tax cuts for the 1%.

Or a Labour choice. Where we cut business rates to save our high streets and where, if there was a Labour government, you could take that council tax rise you just got and rip it up.