Keir Starmer will shift his aim this week on to Rishi Sunak’s role in presiding over the cost of living crisis after days of anger over Labour’s crime campaign.
The party will continue to single out the prime minister in the minds of voters, claiming “his fingerprints are all over their struggling household budgets”, as part of an attempt to hold Sunak – still seen by some as a change of the Tory old guard – personally accountable for 13 years of Conservative failures.
In a letter to his shadow cabinet, seen by the Guardian, Starmer wrote: “Rishi Sunak is the chief architect of choices prioritising the wealthiest and of the government’s failure to get a grip of the economy and get growth going.”
Labour insiders have indicated there are no plans to row back on their personal attacks against the prime minister, with the local elections campaign seen as an opportunity for a practice run of the tough general election battle ahead.
The party’s first digital attack advert of the campaign, published last week, used a picture of Sunak alongside text suggesting he “does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison” and pointed to the Tory record on offenders avoiding jail.
Judges and magistrates, rather than the prime minister of the day, are responsible for handing out sentences. The advert, which Labour claimed was a parody of Sunak’s own frequent social media ads, drew unease among some Labour MPs and campaigners who said it demonstrated “dog-whistle” politics and had “racist undertones”.
Yet senior Labour sources said the party should adopt a mindset of “no longer being afraid to be on the front foot when it comes to campaigning on the important issues”, insisting there was no room for complacency despite Labour’s lead in the polls.
In his letter to the shadow cabinet on Tuesday, Starmer added: “The prime minister is the chancellor who oversaw Britain going into the pandemic so exposed that we suffered the biggest economic hit of major economies.
“He wasted public money handing over billions to fraudsters at every turn. He oversaw a stalling recovery which means that we’re the only major economy still not bigger than before the pandemic.
“This is the person who cheered on failed trickle-down economics, and oversaw a declining economy whilst at the Treasury, supplying the touch paper for another Conservative government to blow up the economy.
“And when he came back to government, he was so out of touch he continued to make choices which loaded the costs on to working people whilst protecting the wealthiest. The voters must know that Rishi Sunak’s fingerprints are all over their struggling household budgets.”
The attack adverts by Labour planned for this week on the economy, which have been seen by the Guardian, are unlikely to provoke such a strong reaction in the party’s ranks as the crime campaign. One says: “Do you think it’s right to raise taxes for working people when your family benefitted from a tax loophole? Rishi Sunak does.”
While many Labour figures have acknowledged the party’s need to step up its campaign against the Tories before the local elections, some questioned how senior strategists could be comfortable with the first ad targeted at Sunak. “The racist undertones are clear. They either don’t want to see that, or sadly they simply cannot,” one said.
Labour insiders say that their track record on holding the Tories to account when they have resorted to dog-whistle politics speaks for itself. One source highlighted the party’s swift response to Suella Braverman’s claims that grooming gangs are “almost all” British Pakistani men, when Home Office papers show otherwise.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will kick off Labour’s cost of living campaign week on Tuesday, repeating Labour’s pledge to help more first-time buyers on to the property ladder when she visits a community bank in Brighton.
The party’s plans include giving first-time buyers first dibs on new-build homes, a mortgage guarantee scheme, and an end to entire developments being sold off-plan to overseas investors.
Labour, which is trying to pitch itself as the party of home ownership in the run-up to the May local elections, would also reform planning and compulsory purchase rules to build more affordable homes.
On Wednesday, Starmer will be joined by Reeves in the east of England, where they will blame Sunak for crashing the economy and for skyrocketing council tax rates. The Tories say that they are still rebuilding the economy post-pandemic and have been hampered by the global energy crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Labour has faced criticism for attacking the Tories but not doing enough to set out its own plans for government.
