{"id":549260,"date":"2026-03-20T15:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549260\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T15:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:47:09","slug":"starmers-ministers-look-at-new-economic-blueprint-to-quell-voter-anger-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549260\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer\u2019s ministers look at new economic blueprint to quell voter anger | Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cabinet ministers have been studying a blueprint for Labour<\/a> to radically overhaul its economic offer and messaging, including devolving tax powers, abolishing national insurance, and major property tax changes.<\/p>\n

Passed around dozens of MPs, the paper argues that without a major rethink, the failure to tackle the discontent on the cost of living will hand the next election to a hard-right government. There is also increasing concern that the war with Iran \u2013 pushing up prices of fuel, energy, food and mortgages \u2013 will fuel further mass public anger.<\/p>\n

The report, which has the draft title of the Beveridge Report for the Economy, will say the British economy rewards grifters and exploitation rather than hard work, and that voter anger is fuelled by the belief that hard work and \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d leaves many feeling cheated.<\/p>\n

Several potential Labour leadership candidates are understood to have requested to see the report, which was prepared as part of a partnership between the Labour Growth Group of MPs once considered loyal to Keir Starmer<\/a> and the Good Growth Foundation thinktank.<\/p>\n

Many MPs said they had been frustrated with the communications strategy to brand both Reform UK and the Greens as extremists or simply impractical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the answers coming from the populists isn\u2019t that they\u2019re \u2018not sensible\u2019, it\u2019s that they\u2019re not radical enough,\u201d one Labour source said. \u201cPrice controls and handouts actually accept the premise that things can\u2019t be fundamentally changed. The truly radical thing is taking on why the system is broken in the first place. Why can\u2019t we build homes? Why is energy so expensive? Why do many workers pay a higher marginal tax rate than a landlord?<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters aren\u2019t turning to Reform and the Greens because they\u2019re becoming \u2018extreme\u2019. They\u2019re, fairly, concluding that the mainstream offer is managed decline and they\u2019d rather roll the dice. The answer is to put forward something genuinely bolder that really changes things for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela Rayner\u2019s speech<\/a> on Monday night at a reception for the Mainstream internal Labour group was said to have similarities to the content of the report. Photograph: @mainstreamlbr\/Twitter\/X<\/p>\n

It is understood that advisers to Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham have read and engaged with the work over recent months, with some feeding back their own ideas to its authors.<\/p>\n

Several serving cabinet ministers have also read the paper, with some requesting copies, as well as ministers in the Treasury, Department for Education, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.<\/p>\n

The paper is expected to be formally launched after the May elections at a time when Starmer may be facing a leadership challenge. It will say that Labour must redesign the tax system to explicitly confront those who make money from taking advantage of people or creating scarcity in the economy \u2013 and instead reward both hard work and taking initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in my constituency work hard, play by the rules, but increasingly feel like the system isn\u2019t on their side,\u201d said the Rossendale and Darwen MP, Andy MacNae. \u201cThis is one of the most creative and serious attempts I\u2019ve seen to actually remake that system, so work and initiative pay again while taking on the vested interests profiting from the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work on the paper has been led by the Growth Group\u2019s director, the strategist Mark McVitie, but draws heavily on contributions from Labour MPs such as the group\u2019s parliamentary chair, Chris Curtis. Several Treasury ministers were previously senior figures in the group, including Dan Tomlinson and Lucy Rigby.<\/p>\n

The paper will say there should be a vastly expanded fiscal devolution for mayors, including business rates and borrowing powers, and that the centre should not be administering or micromanaging local projects but be focused on the biggest structural and geopolitical challenges.<\/p>\n

It will also propose an overhaul of the tax system \u2013 abolishing employee national insurance, reforming council tax and moving towards a land value tax, and a greater taxation of areas of the economy that profit from scarcity rather than value creation.<\/p>\n

But it will argue there should be significant tax breaks for founders and entrepreneurs, which could encourage new companies to grow rather than sell up to bigger ones.<\/p>\n

The paper will also suggest significant reforms to the machinery of government, including abolishing the Cabinet Office and creating a larger department for the prime minister, as well as a larger number of appointees of external experts to set direction in departments.<\/p>\n

The Growth Group\u2019s members have been more closely associated with Streeting\u2019s wing of the party, though many are also close to Burnham. Several MPs who spoke to the Guardian also said they were struck by the similarity of what the report was arguing with Rayner\u2019s speech<\/a> on Monday night at a reception for Mainstream, another internal Labour group vying for influence.<\/p>\n

Rayner warned Starmer that he \u201ccannot go through the motions in the face of decline \u2026 The change that people wanted so desperately needs to be seen, it needs to be felt. And we have to show that it is a Labour government that will deliver it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cabinet ministers have been studying a blueprint for Labour to radically overhaul its economic offer and messaging, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-549260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}