Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to cut taxes for working people and ruled out a Swiss-style deal with the EU if he wins the next election.
However, the Labour leader declined to “spell out our manifesto now” when pressed for details on his position.
He said Labour’s offer will be to “stabilise and grow our economy”, stressing that “everything hangs off that”.
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“Quite often the Labour Party doesn’t want to fight an election on the economy,” he told the Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast.
“We want to fight the election on the economy. We’ve got to grow our economy, because that’s the only way that we can actually make the progress that we need to make.”
Sir Keir said working people have been “clobbered” by the current tax burden – the highest sustained level since the Second World War.
“I want taxes to come down for working people.
“They’ve been really clobbered time and time again, whether that’s on income tax, whether it’s national insurance or council tax or the stealth tax thresholds, everywhere you look.”
Sir Keir warned it is “very important” that “we don’t make promises we can’t keep”.
But pressed on whether the hope is to bring taxes down if Labour wins power, he said: “I would like to see lower tax on working people, yes.”
Sir Keir was also asked about how he would improve Britain’s relationship with the EU, following warnings from experts that Brexit has damaged the economy and hampered trade.
The Sunday Times reported the government was weighing up a Swiss-style deal behind closed doors, but Rishi Sunak denied this was the case as he addressed business leaders on Monday.
Sir Keir said he would also not pursue a Swiss-style relationship with Brussels, which would mean a closer alignment with the single market and EU laws.
“I went to Switzerland and studied that model and I wouldn’t do a Swiss model,” the Labour leader said.
But he said the current deal “isn’t good enough”.
Sir Keir also suggested he has no intention of calling a second Scottish independence referendum during the next Parliament, as he ruled out a pact with the SNP.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that another independence referendum cannot be held without the backing of Westminster, in a major blow to Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party.
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The next general election is not due until January 2025 at the latest, but Labour has been pitching itself as a government in waiting as the party enjoys a substantial lead in the polls.
However, Sir Keir said he has warned his shadow cabinet against “complacency” insisting “every single vote has to be earned”.
One of the challenges facing the Labour leader is where he stands on the raft of public sector strikes sweeping the country, with critics saying his position is unclear.
Sir Keir has argued his MPs should not be on picket lines, saying their job is to focus on getting into government so they can negotiate with workers.
Government should ‘get out of the way’
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Sir Keir said nurses had been “driven” to take industrial action next month by the government, labelling it as a ‘badge of shame’ for No 10.
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Sir Keir Starmer said nurses across the UK ‘have been driven’ to strike by the government, labelling it as a ‘badge of shame’ for No 10
“It seems the health secretary’s not even prepared to get around the table to continue negotiations to avoid the strike,” he said.
“And frankly, if the government is that tired of governing, then they should get out of the way and allow a different government to come in and deal with the underlying questions like the lack of staffing.”
Asked if he supported the nurses’ demands for a 19% pay rise, Sir Keir said Labour would “get round the table and resolve the issue”.
“You would never have a Labour Party health secretary saying: ‘I’m not going to get round the table to continue discussions. And the proof is there’,” he said.
“When Labour were in power, we didn’t have strikes of nurses and actually we had fair pay for nurses.
“So the difference between what Labour would do, what this government is doing could not be starker.”
