Starmer Describes Budget as Turning Point for Future Growth

(MENAFN) British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has strongly endorsed the previous week’s budget, portraying the fiscal plan introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves as a “moment of personal pride.”

Addressing an audience in central London on Monday, he asserted that the budget embodies his longstanding goal of alleviating poverty, emphasizing steps such as removing the two-child benefit limit.

He noted that the proposals include “necessary” yet “fair” decisions. While recognizing that “tax rises do make life harder for people,” he contended that alternatives—like reducing public services or expanding borrowing—had already been “tested to destruction.”

Starmer pointed to updated assessments from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which lowered productivity estimates for recent years, arguing that “austerity scarred the long-term productive capability of this country.”

He stressed that the budget aims not only to ease financial pressures on households but also to deliver greater “security” for citizens.

Discussing economic expansion, he remarked: “When it comes to economic growth, better living standards, we’re confident we can beat the forecasts. We’ve already beaten them this year. We are in control of our future. We’ve already struck trade deals. They’re attracting billions of pounds of investment."

He further explained: "We’re removing barriers to business right across the economy in planning, industrial policy, pension reform, artificial intelligence, capital investment and right at the heart of the budget we have a package of measures to keep the green light for the world’s best entrepreneurs.”

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