All members of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet are to meet top civil servants in Whitehall departments before Easter as Labour steps up preparations to form the next government, according to senior party sources. The Observer has been told that Starmer recently held a first round of so-called “access talks” with the cabinet secretary Simon Case, the head of the civil service, at a “neutral venue” in London, to kick off an exchange of information between the official opposition and Whitehall in advance of a potential handover of power. A senior party figure added that the intention was that Starmer’s session with Case would be followed within the next three weeks by meetings between all of Starmer’s top team and the permanent secretaries who run departments they shadow. The source said: “We want all shadow cabinet members to meet permanent secretaries in the relevant departments before Easter. With an election coming, maybe as early as May, we need to get a move on.” Access talks are a vital part of pre-election planning to ensure a smooth transition, in the event that the opposition forms the next government. They also begin the process under which opposition politicians and civil servants begin building relationships, rather than having to start from scratch on day one after an election. The Institute of Government think tank says: “Because the handover of power usually takes place overnight, access talks are the only opportunity for the civil service and an incoming government to exchange information and establish relationships with each other in advance of the potential handover date. Access talks are unique: civil servants do not normally meet with opposition MPs.” Access talks with Labour have, however, been shrouded in high levels of secrecy, because the party under Starmer is determined not to be seen as taking power for granted. “There is paranoia about giving the impression of measuring the curtains, and being seen as complacent. It is not in the bag,” said a senior insider. Following last week’s budget, MPs at seem increasingly convinced that Labour is on course to form the next government. Despite the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to give working people a second cut in their national insurance payments within the past few months, today’s Opinium poll for the Observer shows no sign of a post-budget Tory bounce, with more voters believing that the budget increased their taxes rather than lowered them. Labour, on 41% (down one point since a fortnight ago) has extended its lead to 16 points over the Tories, who have fallen by 2 points to 25%. Labour also believes Hunt has handed them a strategic gift by holding out the prospect of further cuts in national insurance – and even the possibility of abolishing it altogether – without saying how such a move would be funded.
Speaking to the Observer, the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made clear that Labour – which recently dropped plans to spend £28bn a year on its green prosperity plan amid Tory claims it was unfunded – could now turn the tables on the Conservatives and accuse them of being the party of fiscal irresponsibility.
“Labour is now the party of economic responsibility,” Reeves said “whereas the Conservatives are now the party of unfunded tax cuts. That is an argument we will be making from now on and through the election campaign.” Labour says abolishing national insurance would cost £46bn a year, equivalent to £230bn over the course of a five-year parliament. If the Tories went ahead, they claim, it could have the same effect as the Liz Truss mini-budget in 2022, which led to soaring interest and mortgage rates. Reeves added: “Last week, we needed a budget for the long term that could bring about growth and help begin to rebuild our public services. “And yet Jeremy Hunt ended his budget with a £46bn unfunded tax plan to abolish national insurance that would leave a gaping hole in the public finances, put family finances at risk and create huge uncertainty for pensioners. “The last time the Conservatives implemented such a proposal was when Liz Truss was prime minister and millions of people are still paying the price for that disastrous mini-budget.” Another member of Starmer’s shadow cabinet said Hunt’s suggestion about getting rid of national insurance would allow Labour to counter the traditional Tory attacks. “We can smash all their arguments to pieces and turn them on their head. They have just offered up £46bn of unfunded tax cuts.”
Opinium’s post-budget polling found Labour had a commanding lead on issues of economic competence – which have traditionally been strong suits for the Conservatives.When asked which party they thought would spend government money efficiently, 34% said Labour against 22% for the Conservatives, and 33% said they would trust a Labour government led by Keir Starmer to run the economy efficiently, compared with 26% who would trust Rishi Sunak and the Tories. When asked who would be best for their own personal finances, 33% said Labour, and just 20% the Tories. Despite the two percentage points cut in national insurance in the budget, 31% of those questioned thought that the overall effect of Hunt’s decisions had been to put their taxes up rather than reduce them.