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"This is a scandalous and cynical manipulation of the term ‘working people’"

ended 25. October 2024

Small business owners are deeply unhappy with the Prime Minister's definition of “working people”. The Prime Minister has said that people who make money from assets such as property and shares do not fall under his definition of “working people” — who the Government pledged to protect in its manifesto. He also hinted that working people are those whose income is “usually paid as a monthly cheque” and can't write a cheque to get themselves out of a tight spot.

One said: “This is a scandalous and cynical manipulation of the term ‘working people’”; a second added: “It’s a massive misjudgement, plain and simple.” A third said simply: “What an old fashioned attitude. In the modern age, work and income is multifaceted and varies widely from person to person. It seems the only income he cares about is your 9-5 employed income, which isn’t great in a world filled with flexi-time, WFH and the self-employed.”

The views of working people in all sectors can be found below. 

18 responses from the Newspage community

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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
As a business owner of 20+ years, I’ve sold my soul, sacrificed weekends, invested in people, paid VAT, corporation tax, income tax, and business rates — all to build something meaningful and create jobs. To hear the Prime Minister suggest people who invest in property or shares aren’t ‘working people’ is both insulting and outdated. By this narrow view, those of us who’ve built wealth through hard work and smart investment aren’t 'real workers.' Does Starmer genuinely believe the only ‘working people’ are those paid month to month, disregarding those who fuel economic growth, provide employment, and pay taxes? Such a divisive stance betrays a real lack of understanding of what hard work means in today’s UK. We need a definition of 'working people' that recognises ambition, entrepreneurship, and the grit needed to keep businesses afloat in tough times, even with the punitive tax regime currently imposed.
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Matthew Knight
Independent Strategist and Freelancing Advocate at Freelancing.Support
It's hugely disappointing to see anyone who doesn't receive "a monthly cheque" as not being considered a working person. The millions of self-employed who have variable incomes, who work within the gig economy, who have unstable and irregular pay, or only pay themselves when they're able to — because they're investing to create new businessess, new jobs, new enterprise for the UK — we are all workers too. Modern work has radically redefined the term worker, and it's high time legislation, rights and tax rules are redefined, too. As a party for the worker, Labour needs to reappraise how work looks in the 21st century.
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Andrew Montlake
Managing Director at Coreco
The new Government could be about to learn first hand that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. Language is powerful and to seek to redefine what “working people” means could be a catastrophic mistake they will never recover from. Small businesses are the backbone of this country and will be the ones who drive a growth agenda. They represent hard-working people who treat employees well and engage their local communities, so making them feel unappreciated and removing their reasons to grow and make money is an enormous backward step. That said, we should wait and see what the Budget ultimately contains, though they have been warned.
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David Belle
Founder and Trader at Fink Money
This will be lovely news for the small business owner who takes dividends because they’re taxed slightly lower to make up for the lack of sick pay, pension contributions, risk, annual leave, inability to slack off and with a small chance of making something of their business… the list goes on. Why stay in the UK and listen to this mob’s gaslighting if you are in any risk-taking endeavour?
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Samantha Acton
Director at Domestic Angels
The definition of 'working people' must include SME business owners who employ many people across the country. These business owners are workers who often work the longest hours, earn modestly, shoulder huge responsibility and are key to the UK economy yet they will have increased taxes in the Budget if rumours prove true. Increased taxes for providing employed jobs in an increasingly legislative arena which is driving employment to the point of unaffordability for so many SMEs.
The fact that the definition of 'workers' is being queried in the context of the labour manifesto and the forthcoming budget clearly indicates that this country currently has a government that only sees big business and employees within the economy. The hundreds of thousands of SMEs and micro businesses are invisible to them.
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Patricia McGirr
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
This is a scandalous and cynical manipulation of the term ‘working people’. It is being done to ensure the maximum number of ordinary citizens fall under the Labour Government’s apparent ‘fair game’ tax policies. Millions of people work hard to build assets that will take care of them. It’s what we’re supposed to do, but even when you’re planning to be secure in your later life, your ‘assets’ aren’t safe from Sir Keir and his Starm-troopers. Yes, public services require funding, and we must take care of the most vulnerable in our society, but this is a war on working people who’ve done good. Shambolic and shameless.
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Kim McGinley
Director & Specialist Broker at VIBE Finance
It’s frustrating to see a Prime Minister so out of touch with reality that he dismisses those who invest in property and business as somehow not ‘working people.’ It’s a massive misjudgement, plain and simple. Small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t just work – they graft day in, day out, pouring everything they’ve got into building something from nothing. They sacrifice time with family, stability, and their own financial security to keep this economy moving, yet they’re overlooked as contributors. This Budget has done nothing but fuel more anxiety, with no real support or vision. I’ve honestly never seen a premiership start on such a low note. It feels like just another politician backpedalling on promises that got them through the door in the first place. What this country needs is a leader who can recognise and rally around the backbone of Britain: the people putting in the hard work, especially in these tough times. Right now, this isn’t it.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Firstly, 99% of the population don’t know where their chequebook is. Keir Starmer needs to read 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. The PM who campaigned as the voice of the people doesn’t appreciate that those who derive income from various sources are not just the uber-wealthy but hard working people. His premiership so far has been uneventful and at present hasn’t shown any of the qualities in a Prime Minister that this country needs and deserves.
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Chris Barry
Director at Thomas Legal
The backtrack on the term “working people" is classic Insta versus Reality. Labour pinned their campaign on committing to not taxing working people to plug the ever-growing back hole and now we're being told that people who have worked hard to build for their future and create jobs are not working people.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
The majority of small business owners work long and hard to provide jobs and services, but wouldn’t be considered “working people” by the government and are in the sights to be targeted again. Many of those were hugely unsupported and neglected during Covid are now being made to pay for it. Next week's Budget is going to be all trick and no treat for business owners and landlords.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
What an old fashioned attitude. In the modern age, work and income is multifaceted and varies widely from person to person. It seems the only income he cares about is your 9-5 employed income, which isn’t great in a world filled with flexi time, WFH and the self-employed.
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Katy Eatenton
Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Eatenton Finance
I’m speechless. To say self-employed people, business owners and landlords are not working people is mind-blowing. Could a prime minister be anymore out of touch than Keir?
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
It’s clear this government doesn’t have a clue and are totally out of touch with what drives growth and innovation. Millions of small business owners are working people often working longer hours with no sick pay or holiday pay who create jobs. It looks like they will be the target of this government's ire.
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Craig Fish
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
It's outrageous that the Prime Minister doesn’t class those who run small businesses as "working people." Small business owners often work harder and longer hours than most, and the idea that a monthly pay cheque is the defining factor shows just how out of touch this government is. For entrepreneurs, a steady income is far harder to come by, especially when they’re the ones shouldering all the risks. Once again, we’re being targeted, just like during the pandemic, when small businesses were left struggling. The government’s repeated disregard for this vital sector is shocking. Small business owners are the lifeblood of the UK economy, and it's high time we received the recognition and support we deserve, not this outdated, dismissive attitude. I cant believe I'm saying this so soon but the PM's days in power and politics are truly numbered.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Yet again the self-employed and business owners are thrown to the side of the road as the Prime Minister clearly shows his hand, and whilst the headline to not taxing working people may resonate loudly, the entrepreneurs and risk-taking employers will probably have to dig deeper into their already empty pockets to prop up the Swifties. We could end up with high unemployment, high mortgage rates and a bankrupt country just like we had in the 1970s.
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Harps Garcha
Director at Brooklyns Financial
I found myself double-checking to make sure I wasn’t having a nightmare during last night's Sky interview. Are we really saying that pensioners who worked their entire lives to build up their assets are not 'working people'? That business owners who sacrifice personal and family time, enduring long hours to create jobs for others, aren’t considered to be working? Leaving the house at 7:00 a.m. and returning home at 10:30 p.m.—how is that not work? I’d like to ask: if this doesn’t count as work, then what does? These contributions drive our economy, our communities and support countless families. It’s time we recognise the commitment and value in all forms of work.
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Debbie Porter
Managing Director at Destination Digital Marketing
There is an irony with this news coming at the same time as Keir Starmer attempts to avoid making reparations to countries impacted by the transatlantic slave trade. The humans that were trafficked were ‘passive-income assets’ that were instrumental in building many of the large corporations still trading today, but also a great deal of the personal wealths of politicians and public figures who have shaped our society and the wealth of this country. The very foundations of the big businesses - that now pay Starmer’s definition of modern-day ‘working people’ - were built on assets and not paycheques. These same ‘working people’ who now have portfolio careers and side hustles to make ends meet do it because of the tough times we’ve been enduring for half a decade now. The assumption there is no graft associated with property and asset investment makes this a huge misjudgement and a very poor choice of phrasing.
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Amit Patel
Adviser at Trinity Finance
A new dawn and the same old rhetoric from a Party that said it wanted to change the narrative of how Politicians are perceived. Working people are those whose income is “usually paid as a monthly cheque”, so is Kier saying here that the self-employed are "not" working people. The thousands of small to medium sized businesses up and down the country who create jobs in the economy and contribute to society through paying their fair share of taxes.