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Starmer to say he’s ‘changed’ Labour as party rules out raising income tax or NI

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Leader targets swing voters in Kent and Essex while shadow chancellor makes vow on taxes and spending

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Keir Starmer will declare on Monday that Labour has changed “permanently” under his stewardship, after the party ruled out raising income tax or national insurance if it wins the election.

Keir Starmer will declare on Monday that Labour has changed “permanently” under his stewardship, after the party ruled out raising income tax or national insurance if it wins the election.

Rachel Reeves has vowed that Labour would not raise income tax or national insurance in the next parliament. She said there would be no “return to austerity” under Labour and that the party had committed to an “immediate injection of cash into public services”.

But the shadow chancellor stressed there would be no “unfunded proposals” in the Labour manifesto. “Money for our NHS, the additional police – 13,000 additional police and community officers – and the 6,500 additional teachers in our schools, they are all fully costed and fully funded promises, because unless things are fully costed and fully funded, frankly, you can’t believe they’re going to happen,” Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

She added: “What I want and Keir wants is taxes on working people to be lower, and we certainly won’t be increasing income tax or national insurance if we win at the election.”

Speaking in the south-east, Starmer will say Labour has been “ruthless in making sure these policies are deliverable, fully funded and ready to go”.

A Labour campaign source said: “The Tories have spent 14 years burning down the country. Now they want you to hand them another box of matches and a jerry can of petrol. This election is the chance to remove the arsonists and rebuild Britain.”

The party will reportedly carry out a 100-day review of threats facing Britain, in a pledge that would underline the party’s commitment to national security.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, told the Times the policy would involve MI5, the police and Whitehall conducting a “security sprint” to identify threats from hostile states, including Russia and Iran, from extremism and artificial intelligence.

This will be Starmer’s third visit to the south-east in as many weeks, as he targets Tory-held seats in Kent and Essex which haven’t returned Labour MPs since the New Labour years.