{"id":161600,"date":"2024-10-25T21:20:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T21:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/working-people-and-labours-muddle-with-messaging\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T21:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T21:20:11","slug":"working-people-and-labours-muddle-with-messaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/working-people-and-labours-muddle-with-messaging\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Working people’ and Labour’s muddle with messaging"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"‘Working<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

“Working people.”<\/p>\n

It’s a fairly broad phrase that’s been banded around a lot this week in light of the budget<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Labour<\/a><\/strong> actually mentioned the term working people 21 times in their manifesto<\/a><\/strong>, so you’d think they would have a pretty concrete idea of who they have in their mind’s eye when pushed on their definition.<\/p>\n

But yesterday when asked by Sky News<\/a><\/strong> whether anyone whose income derived from assets, such as shares or property, could be considered a working person, Sir Keir Starmer<\/a><\/strong> said: “Well, they wouldn’t come within my definition.”<\/p>\n

At a market in Hitchin, Hertfordshire some market traders have been working since 6am and all of them have no issues describing how they believe they are working people.<\/p>\n

“I would describe myself as working people, but everybody works in different ways,” one man says.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n One man says he works at his market stall 14-hours a day
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He admits he has some shares which he describes as insignificant but says he works 14-hour days on a market stall and does not consider those shares capable of rendering him ineligible to fit Sir Keir’s description.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve worked all your life and you’ve invested in your future, why shouldn’t you be allowed to keep it,” he says.<\/p>\n

Watching the clip of the prime minister on her phone, a woman nods in agreement with Keir Starmer on most of his descriptions, but she’s confused at why shares and property are a problem.<\/p>\n

She says she would like to have a clearer definition from him.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Hitchin\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n One woman says she would like a clearer definition from the prime minister
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \"Hitchin\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“If they’ve worked for it all their life then that’s fine, if they’ve had it handed down to them, generation after generation, I think that’s a completely different thing,” she says.<\/p>\n

Another man says he disagrees with Sir Keir’s definition, adding if people are getting money through shares, it is a “bonus” and means you have been “clever with your money”.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Hitchin\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A third man at the market tells me the only thing he hears about Sir Keir is that his father was a toolmaker.<\/p>\n

“All you hear about is ‘Oh, I’m the son of a toolmaker’, well so am I. I ain’t rich, I’m not a rich man, they’re just not in the real world no more. They’re just so out of touch,” he says.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Hitchin\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n One man says he isn’t rich, and his father was a toolmaker like Sir Keir
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

With the budget in touching distance, this is not just about semantics, this could actually matter.<\/p>\n

That’s because Labour said in their manifesto they would not raise taxes for working people and they continue to stick to this ironclad commitment with the budget days away.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"The\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Depending on who the government class as working people, it could open the door for potential hikes to capital gains tax, national insurance raised for employers, even potentially inheritance tax.<\/p>\n

But we will not really know until Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/a><\/strong> reads out her budget next week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Working people.” It’s a fairly broad phrase that’s been banded around a lot this week in light of the budget. Labour actually mentioned the term working people 21 times in their manifesto, so you’d think they would have a pretty concrete idea of who they have in their mind’s eye when pushed on their definition. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-hitchin-market_6727899.jpg?20241025203159","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1980,22379,125814,124,5864],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161602,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161600\/revisions\/161602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}