Rachel Reeves ain’t ‘working people’, says Starmer

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MainFT (our emphasis):

Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that anyone who owns shares and rental property is not a “working person”, as his chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil a Budget that will feature numerous tax increases

[…]

Starmer, interviewed by Sky News at the Commonwealth heads of government summit in Samoa, was asked whether someone who had a job but also received income from assets such as shares and property could be defined as a working person. 

The prime minister replied: “Well, they wouldn’t come within my definition.”

He also gave his definition of working people. “The sorts of working people who go out, work hard and maybe save a bit of money but don’t have the wherewithal to write a cheque to get out of difficulties if they and their family get into difficulties.”

It was an odd thing for the experienced lawyer to say, given 1) pretty much all working people people with jobs directly or indirectly own shares via pension schemes, and 2) he presumably does want Labour to win future elections.

But it’s also a controversial comment given the House of Commons publishes a list of which MPs are landlords, which includes such figures as chancellor Rachel Reeves, foreign secretary David Lammy, and City minister Tulip Siddiq.

So, as a public service to make sure we’re all on the same page, FT Alphaville has compiled a list of the 46 current Labour MPs (about 11 per cent of the party total) who fall within this category — defined as those with “Land and property portfolio with a value over £100,000” that “provides a rental income of over £10,000 a year” (excluding property that is lived in only by the MP or a family member).

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of all the Labour MPs Starmer reckons are not working people (this required a lot of Ctrl-F, so do let us know if we’ve made any errors):

• Alex Barros-Curtis

• Alex Mayer

• Alison Hume

• Angus MacDonald

• Anna Dixon

• Ashley Dalton

• Bayo Alaba

• Catherine Atkinson

• David Lammy

• David Smith

• Emily Thornberry

• Feryal Clark

• Florence Eshalomi

• Gareth Thomas

• Gurinder Singh Josan

• Hamish Falconer

• Ian Murray

• Imogen Walker

• James Naish

• Jas Athwal

• Jessica Toale

• Joani Reid

• Joe Powell

• Jon Pearce

• Liam Conlon

• Louise Jones

• Lucy Powell

• Matt Western

• Meg Hillier

• Mike Reader

• Nesil Caliskan

• Perran Moon

• Peter Prinsley

• Rachel Reeves

• Rachel Taylor

• Richard Baker

• Rushanara Ali

• Ruth Cadbury

• Sadik Al-Hassan

• Sarah Coombes

• Sarah Sackman

• Sarah Smith

• Seema Malhotra

• Shaun Davies

• Tulip Siddiq

• Warinder Juss

Further reading:
— How to think before speaking (WikiHow)
— Keir Starmer sells ‘donkey sanctuary’ field in Surrey for around £400,000 (The Mirror)