Chancellor Sir Keir Starmer has said he is willing to make enemies in the name of economic growth, including by pushing through a controversial planning application.
In the latest in a series of BBC Panorama interviews with party leaders, the Labour leader denied he would wave a “magic wand” to stop tax rises and public spending cuts in order to fulfil election promises.
Sir Keir also told Nick Robinson he was “not hostile” to people who use private healthcare, and ruled out rejoining the European Union.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told reporters at the G7 summit in Italy that he would “fight for every vote until the last day”.
Asked why he thought polls were showing some Conservative supporters were switching to Reform UK, Mr Sunak replied: “The election is only half over.”
He also repeated his claim that the Conservatives have a ‘manifesto for tax cuts’ but Labour is ‘going to raise taxes’.
Speaking at Labour’s manifesto launch earlier this week, Sir Keir said the party was pro-economic growth and would promote wealth creation.
Nick Robinson suggested the party was trying to cover up an £18bn hole in the Treasury’s funding – equivalent to 10% of the NHS budget – that would have to be filled either by raising taxes or cutting spending on public services.
But Sir Keir said the choice was not simply about being “locked in” between tax and spending because there was the alternative – growth.
“My manifesto is wealth creation,” he said. “This is a party that promotes wealth creation and growth.”
“So we find ourselves in this predicament, which is what everyone is trying to do, and the only levers available to a Labour government and a Labour prime minister are to raise taxes or cut spending, and I reject that. The lever I want to pull is growth.”
Asked if he intended to “wave a magic growth wand”, Sir Keir replied: “It’s not a wand, it’s a plan”, explaining Labour’s focus on removing the obstacles to business needs that are holding back economic growth.
The Labour leader suggested he would ignore objections to new development, citing the example of wind turbines that could be built in two years but would be delayed by five years through the planning process.
Asked by Nick Robinson if he was prepared to make enemies in order to promote economic growth, Sir Keir replied: “Yes, we have to get tough.”
“We’re going to have to change the way we do things.”
During the first leadership debate Sir Keir said he would not use private healthcare under any circumstances, but Robinson suggested he was concerned the Labour leader thought people who used private healthcare were “queue cutters”.
“I have no animosity whatsoever,” Sir Keir said, “and I completely understand why people would choose a private hospital – they want to get their operation faster, they want to get back to work, or for other reasons.”
But he defended the NHS as doing the best job in acute care, saying it was “just the best place” to treat life-threatening illnesses, adding that private hospitals “refer to the NHS for acute care” for that reason.
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On Brexit, Sir Keir – who as Shadow Exit Secretary had campaigned for remaining in the EU and also called for the option of a second referendum before ruling out rejoining last year – was asked whether he wanted the UK to rejoin the European Union.
The Labour leader respected the result of the vote and ruled out rejoining the EU, saying it was “not a panacea”.
He said the post-Brexit trade deal had “failed” and that Labour would negotiate a better Brexit trade deal if it won the general election on 4 July, but said many of the issues around growth could be resolved without reversing Brexit.
“I believe we can get a better deal than the failed deal we got under Boris Johnson’s government,” he said. “I think every business believes that.”
He added: “If you look at the problems we’ve had over the last 14 years with regards to growth, they existed, or many of them existed, before we left the EU. So the idea that a relationship with the EU is the only solution doesn’t sit well with me.”
Mr Sunak told the G7 there was a clear choice between the two parties and said he would “continue to fight hard to ensure that everyone understands the choice before them”.
He argued that if Labour was elected it would give Sir Keir a “blank cheque” to increase taxes, but if the Conservatives were re-elected they would “cut taxes for people at all stages of life”.
On the only poll that showed the Reform Party ahead of the Conservatives, the Prime Minister said the only poll that mattered was the one on July 4. Other polls have shown the Conservatives ahead of Nigel Farage’s party.
Mr Sunak also promised to stay on as an MP for the full five-year term even if the Conservatives are defeated on July 4.
The BBC is interviewing all the leaders of the major parties in the run up to the election in their ‘Panorama Interviews’ with Nick Robinson. The interview with Sir Keir Starmer can be watched from 7.30pm on BBC One or BBC iPlayer.