Sir Keir Starmer launches Labour's local elections push

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has launched his party's local election campaign, promising to help households hit by the soaring cost of living.

He accused the Conservatives of giving a "pathetic" response to rising prices and pledged to cut energy bills through a windfall tax on oil and gas firms.

Sir Keir said he would "fight for every vote" in 5 May's elections in England, Scotland and Wales.

Northern Ireland Assembly elections will also happen on that day.

The votes will be the first electoral test for party leaders since the war in Ukraine, increases to the cost of living and the row over parties held in Downing Street during lockdown.

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Sir Keir kicked off Labour's campaign by claiming families would be £2,620 a year worse off on average under the Conservatives.

The BBC has not independently verified these figures but the government's economic forecaster has said the UK is facing the biggest drop in living standards since records began in 1956.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted household incomes will drop by 2.2% this year.

Labour are claiming that families would be £2,620 a year worse off under the Conservatives.

Their figure is a pick-and-mix of various costs - £1,000 in tax, £1,000 in energy/petrol prices, and about £300 each for food and mortgage costs - that vastly exceeds what you would get using official estimates.

It includes costs that have happened during the Conservative government, but not all of which can be blamed on the Conservatives. It does not include increases in benefits or wages that have happened under the same government.

The tax figure includes all taxes paid by businesses as well as those paid by households. Business pass some, but not all, of their tax costs on to UK consumers.

The energy, petrol and food prices are captured in official estimates of inflation. UK inflation is not significantly different to that seen in other major European economies.

The combined effect of wages, benefits, taxes and inflation on households were estimated by the Office for Budget Responsibility last week.

The OBR figures equate to a fall of about £800 in income in the year March 2023, for an average family (the [mean] average household incomes was about £37,000 in the UK in the year to March 2021).

Speaking in Bury, Sir Keir told voters: "In exactly five weeks, you get the chance to send the Tories a message they cannot ignore - a message that Britain deserves better than the pathetic response we got to the Conservative cost of living crisis in the mini-Budget."

Last week Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his Spring Statement, in which he set out measures aimed at easing the pain of rising prices, including a cut to fuel duty.

But Sir Keir said the government "takes far more than it gives to working people", pointing to a coming rise in National Insurance tax.

"Labour would tackle the Tory cost-of-living crisis by cutting your bills by up to £600 funded by a windfall levy on the excess profits of the oil and gas companies," he added.

The Labour leader also promised to change employment law to prevent "scandals like P&O" - a reference to the ferry company which sacked 800 staff without a consultation, in order to replace them with cheaper agency workers.

And on crime, he accused the government of not being "in control" and pledged to introduce police hubs "in every neighbourhood".