Keir Starmer’s warning to ministers after cabinet Budget row erupts

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Sir Keir has received letters raising concerns after a number of his team – including transport minister Louise Haigh and justice minister Shabana Mahmood – spoke out against the measures at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, with one reportedly describing the cuts being sought as “absolutely huge”. open image in gallery Keir Starmer is under pressure over cuts in Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget Some departments are facing cuts of as much as 20 per cent as Ms Reeves scrambles to find £40bn of spending cuts and tax rises before the 30 October Budget. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s hard to see how you could make cuts like that to the Ministry of Justice without affecting the running of the justice system in terms of prisons and probation which account for about half of net spending and legal aid, which is really on its knees at the moment, and also the courts and tribunal system which are, as we know, completely blocked.” open image in gallery A former Labour adviser has said the cuts could ‘destroy the criminal justice system in many ways’ Ms Reeves told ministers during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting that plans to fill a £22bn hole in the public finances will be enough only to “keep public services standing still”. But the move would be seen as a breach of Labour’s election manifesto, which promised: “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase national insurance.” Ministers have argued the promise only applied to the employee rate of national insurance, which sits at 8 per cent, and not the 13.8 per cent employer contribution rate.