A crackdown on MPs’ second jobs is part of this autumn’s “packed legislative programme”, as Sir Keir Starmer attempts to move on from a difficult summer.
Labour MPs fear the new Prime Minister’s “honeymoon” with voters has come to a swift end and want Chancellor Rachel Reeves to deliver “a plan to make voters better off” in her Budget.
As the House of Commons gets back to work tomorrow, Cabinet Minister Lucy Powell insisted the Government is “full of ideas and full of drive to deliver our mandate for change”.
Other laws to be introduced before Christmas will include measures to improve workers’ rights, to make it harder for private landlords to evict tenants and to punish water bosses allowing sewage to enter seas and rivers. And this week the Com-
mons will debate new laws to re-nationalise rail, set up a state-owned green energy company and ensure that all major financial announcements are scrutinised by the Office for Budget responsibility.
But many Labour MPs have been left outraged by their party’s controversial proposed cut to winter fuel payments.
They also believe the Government needs to offer voters “hope”, after Sir Keir’s gloomy warning last week that “things will get worse before they get better” and suggestions the Budget will include tax hikes.
One Labour MP said: “We need the PM to talk about where the country is going, not just the problems we face now.
“At the Budget, we are going to need to see the first steps towards a plan that means key bits of our voter base get
better off. Unless you can show people there is a path to becoming better off under Labour, then we’ll run into trouble.”
Sir Keir’s backbenchers fear it was a mistake for the Chancellor to announce her decision to means-test winter fuel payments weeks before regulator Ofgem increased the price cap by £149 from October.
A former Labour minister said: “A lot of Labour MPs are worried about the way it was done. We will reserve judgment until the Budget.”
However, Labour MPs say constituents are responding well to the Prime Minister’s claim the last Conservative Government left the country in a “mess” that needs fixing. The Government has insisted it has been forced to make “difficult decisions” due to its “economic inheritance”, with “more difficult choices” – potentially tax hikes – on the horizon.
Ms Powell, who is Leader of the Commons, said: “We’ve announced a packed legislative agenda focused on the people’s priorities. After 14 years of the Conservatives, we’ve had to act quickly and act drastically to stop the rot at the heart of our country’s finances, our public services and our politics.”
“Labour is ready to roll up our sleeves.” Tories are upbeat about their prospects as the winter fuel payments row deepens.
One said: “It is a complete own goal and I have no idea why they allowed themselves to get into this position.”