You Can’t Spot the Difference between Keir Starmer’s Labour Party & Rishi Sunak’s Tory Party

Alba Party have slammed Keir Starmer stating that “you can’t spot the difference” between his Labour Party and the Tories. 

Alba’s criticism of the Labour Party comes on the back of Starmer confirming that a Labour Government would not scrap the two-child benefit cap. The Leader of the Opposition also said that he “does not mind” if he is labelled fiscally conservative. 

Alba’s General Secretary Chris McEleny has said that Starmer’s support for “abhorrent” Tory policies shows that the Labour Party is now a “moral vacuum” and that voters can no longer “spot the difference” between Labour and Tory policies. 

In an interview, yesterday, with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, the Labour leader refused to be drawn on a number of spending commitments but was definite on the policy recently described by his Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jon Ashworth as “heinous” and which his Deputy leader Angels Raynor said was “obscene and inhumane” back in 2020.

The two-child policy was introduced by George Osborne in his 2015 budget. It came into effect in 2017 after MPs backed the measure in the House of Commons.

The policy means households with more than two children where universal credit or child tax credit is claimed no longer receive additional funds. 

Earlier this week, the latest statistics revealed that 1.5 million were growing up in families impacted by the cap. Children's charities, including Barnados and the Child Poverty Action Group have said this "tax on siblings" is the "biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today."

Speaking to the BBC, Sir Keir said that he does not mind if people brand him a fiscal conservative.

“I don’t mind what label people put on me…My argument is this. What was absolutely plain from last year’s mini-budget is if you lose control of the economy, it’s working people who pay.”

The leader of the opposition was then asked about specific policies. Asked if the two-child benefit cap would change under a Labour government, he replied: “We're not changing that.”

When asked about housing benefit, and whether it would be unfrozen, he said: “Well, we will set that out closer to the election or when we set that out. I'm not committing to that here.” 

Alba Party say that Sir Keir Starmer’s remarks confirm it is now “impossible to spot the difference” between Labour policies and those of the Tories. In a new leaflet released today Alba Party list a host of policy positions that both the Labour Party and the Tories are in harmony on, from being opposed to freedom of movement and Scotland having entry into the European Single Market, to support for tuition fees, the two child benefit cap and the renewal of weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde. 

Alba Party’s General Secretary Chris McEleny says that the lack of difference between Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and the Tories shows why Scotland cannot afford to let either party win seats off of pro-independence candidates at next year’s General Election. 

Alba Party want a Scotland United Pro-Independence Pact to fight the next election in Scotland - seeking a mandate to enter into independence negotiations with the UK Government. 

Commenting Alba Party General Secretary Chris McEleny said: 

“Harold Wilson once told a Labour Party Conference that The Labour party is a moral crusade or it is nothing. At the current rate, Keir Starmer will no doubt use his next Conference speech to tell his party members that the Labour Party under his leadership is a moral vacuum or it is nothing!

“This latest pronouncement - that Labour won’t reverse the Tory Rape Clause - makes it increasingly difficult to spot the difference between Keir Starmer’s Party and that of Rishi Sunak. To borrow a phrase often used in the West of Scotland, it is clear that the Labour Party and the Tories are still two cheeks of the same backside. 

“With Westminster we will always lose and we will always be vulnerable to having abhorrent policies imposed upon us by Governments that we do not vote for. 

“The next General Election must be fought as Scotland United, with every candidate having as the first line of their manifesto that they seek a mandate to enter into independence negations with the UK Government. That is the only way Scotland can free itself from a morally bankrupt UK."