In my defence, I’m a personal finance journalist. It comes with the job description but last night PM Keir Starmer showed me the error of my ways.
Apparently, I’ve been leading people astray and I’m sorry.
Starmer has repeatedly started that Labour will not be taxing “working people” in next Wednesday’s Budget.
Speaking on Sky News, he was pressed to explain what he means by “working people”, and his answer was eye-opening.
He said a working person is somebody who “goes out and earns their living, usually paid in a sort of monthly cheque”. However, they don’t have the ability to “write a cheque to get out of difficulties”.
Let’s set aside the fact that nobody writes cheques these days – except maybe Labour Party donors – and unpack the rest of that statement.
To “write a cheque to get out of difficulties” requires having surplus money in your current account.
Once you’re in that situation, you no longer qualify as a working person, apparently, and are considered fair game for Labour.
Maybe I’ve been doing this job too long but that’s a radical change.
For years, I’ve been advising readers to keep a cash safety net to cover between three and six months of spending in case of emergencies, such as sickness or redundancy.
I’m not sure if I should write that anymore. It might give people the power to “write a cheque to get out of difficulties”.
At which point they cease to be “working people” and are ripe for a Labour tax raid.
Yet I’m confused. The reason most people have money in their current account is because they’ve been “working people” at some point.
But once they have a bit of cash in the bank, they cease to become working people. Hmm, I’m not sure I understand Labour’s new world. It sounds a little dystopian to me.
I have another apology to make.
Over the years, I’ve been encouraging readers to invest in stocks and shares Isas, to build up wealth for retirement rather than rely purely on the state.
Again, I was wrong. People who do that are no longer working people, either. Even if they invest from their workplace earnings, as I’ve encouraged them to do every month, by direct debit.
Starmer also said that anyone who gets income from shares or property would not come under his definition of a working person, either.
This advice is confusing since it comes from a PM who has built up £1million in pensions. But they’re public sector pensions, so I suppose that’s okay.
If they were private sector pensions it would be a different matter. Then Labour would be gunning for them.
When asked if this would include people who get all or part of their income from assets, Starmer said: “Well, they wouldn’t come within my definition.”
There’s something prim and judge-y about that sentence. Possibly because Starmer is prim and judge-y. Unless somebody is offering him a freebie then he’s all over it.
Still, these are the new rules and we just have to accept them.
So ignore everything I’ve ever written. Don’t save, don’t invest, don’t write a cheque and for heaven’s sake, don’t invest in a buy-to-let property. Starmer will judge and chancellor Rachel Reeves will punish you.
I’m sorry I ever suggested working people do any of these things. I apologise and promise to be better.
