From football matches to Taylor Swift tickets, Starmer’s penchant for perks is a disconcerting trait | Owen Jones

A willingness to accept the generosity of the rich can influence politicians in a way we don’t need in cash-strapped Britain

Let’s call it the Boris Johnson test. When our rightly disgraced former prime minister was collecting numerous freebies at a time of acute social crisis, were you outraged?

It’s only eight weeks into Keir Starmer’s administration, but he has made clear how he intends to rule. The refusal to scrap George Osborne’s two-child benefit limit imposes poverty on 250,000 children, and drives 850,000 kids further into hardship and squalor. Labour’s decision to radically restrict winter fuel payments in England and Wales, meanwhile, will withdraw support from 800,000 impoverished older people who are eligible for pension credit but don’t receive it – an inevitable evil generated by means testing – as well as another 1 million pensioners just above the breadline.

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