Families set to be £2,620 worse off on Tories’ watch, Labour claims

Labour will focus on the cost of living crisis when the party launches its local election campaign on Thursday.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Wire)

Labour is set to launch its local election campaign with a focus on the spiralling cost of living, as it publishes new research suggesting families are set to be poorer to the tune of £2,620 under the Conservatives’ watch.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer will call on voters to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” on the issue, as he says his party would cut people’s energy bills by up to £600 – funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

The party is set to unveil its new analysis suggesting families are on track to be £2,620 worse off – even after the Chancellor’s spring statement.

This combines estimates about the rise the tax burden, energy prices, petrol, food shopping and mortgage costs.

(Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

Launching the campaign in Bury on Thursday, Sir Keir will say: “Britain deserves better than the pathetic response we got to the Conservative cost of living crisis in the mini-Budget.

“You know the reality – prices are going through the roof, and wages are going through the floor.”

He will claim the Conservatives have overseen “the biggest drop in living standards since the 50s” and the highest taxes in 70 years.

“Even allowing for everything the Chancellor announced, families are £2,620 worse off. Britain deserves better than this,” he will say.

“Working families feel more insecure than ever. While prices are rising in the supermarkets, at the petrol pumps and in our electricity bills, the Government has chosen to put up national insurance at exactly the wrong time.

“That’s why Labour would tackle the Tory cost-of-living crisis by cutting your bills by up to £600 funded by a windfall levy on the excess profits of the oil and gas companies.”

Working families feel more insecure than ever

Sir Keir Starmer

The Labour leader will also pledge to reform employment law, making reference to P&O Ferries – which came under intense criticism after sacking its crews and replacing them with agency workers earlier this month.

“Scandals like P&O would never happen on our watch,” he will claim.

Sir Keir will be joined by Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, while shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and national campaign co-ordinator Shabana Mahmood will attend campaign launches in Worthing and Derby, respectively.