Keir Starmer torn apart on GMB as politician rages ‘we need urgent action!’

Keir Starmer has been accused of doing too little too late in an urgent call to action to support businesses and families in the spiralling cost-of-living crisis. On Thursday (April 2), Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley returned to the airwaves to deliver the latest news hitting the headlines. It didn’t take long before things turned political when they welcomed Liberal Democrats Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper onto the programme after the Labour leader pledged to tackle the resurgent cost-of-living crisis ahead of the May elections.

Launching Labour’s English local elections campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday (March 30), the Prime Minister said: “We’re facing a war on two fronts – the Ukraine war, now four and a bit months in… and now the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.” He stressed that his party understood that “whatever is going on in the world, whatever is going on in politics, and there’s a lot in both, most people are concerned most of all about the cost of living.”

To get another take on the politician’s speech, the presenting duo welcomed the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats onto the show to get her thoughts on his proposal. It was at this point that the politician revealed how she would tackle the issue, explaining: “Not only have we Liberal Democrats set out a number of things the Government can do, we’ve also explained how the Government can fund them.

“If they’re looking for fairer ways for raising revenue, we have highlighted that the Government could look, for example, to raising windfall tax on the big banks, on the unexpected profits of the big banks, that could be somewhere between £25billion and £30billion over the next five years.

“But ultimately, the problem that we really face as a country is that growth is flatlining in this country. We have absolutely got to pull a lever to get economic growth back into our economy, and the biggest, most readily available lever that the Government could pull would be to get a better trading relationship with Europe.

“This would mean that British businesses would have easier access to more customers, so they can rip up red tape. We’ve called for an EU-UK customs union in order to do that. It’s so frustrating to me that after 20 months, the Government is only just starting to say they’ve realised this lever exists, that somebody somewhere ought to pull the lever, and we’re saying they should get on and do it now.”

But this wasn’t the only complaint the Lib Dem minister had with politics in her heated argument; she also hit out at Donald Trump for pushing the King to persevere with his upcoming state visit this month, despite tensions between the UK and the US at new heights.

She fumed: “I think it is deeply humiliating, both for the King and for the country, that after all these insults that the King is effectively being sent over there. It’s clear that [Donald Trump’s] state visit to the UK had absolutely no positive bearing whatsoever on our relationship, so I can’t see any evidence that the King going over there will make any difference at all.”

It didn’t take long before viewers flocked to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their frustrations with the Government online. One user penned: “I’ve got an idea – reduce taxes & stop wasting what tax you get!” Another quipped: “Everybody knows if you work for a living, you get nought from Rachel Reeves.”

A third echoed: “We all need help, but the gov won’t lower taxes and get rid of carbon taxes as they have no interest in actually helping as they want more and more money from us.” Meanwhile, a fourth argued: “Well said. Someone who knows what they’re talking about. She is absolutely right.”