Politics latest: PM Sir Keir Starmer responds to report suggesting tax rises needed

PM 'does not recognise' figures suggesting tax rises - but he doesn't rule them out

Sir Keir Starmer has said he "does not recognise" figures that suggest the government will need to raise taxes in the autumn budget.

Speaking during a visit to Milton Keynes, the prime minister said: "Some of the figures that are being put out are not figures that I recognise, but the budget won’t be until later in the year, and that's why we'll have the forecast then and we’ll set out our plans.

"What's really important is that I'm very clear about our focus, which will be on living standards and making sure that people feel better-off, partly because more money is coming into their pocket in the first place through better wages, and partly because we're bearing down on costs like mortgages and other costs to everyday families."

He reiterated that the government will focus on living standards at the budget.

Starmer was asked whether the Treasury would not raise VAT, income tax rates and corporation tax in the autumn.

He did not explicitly dismiss the idea of tax rises, but said: "The focus will be living standards, so that we will build on what we've done in the first year of this government.

"We've stabilised the economy. That means interest rates have been cut now four times.

"For anybody watching this on a mortgage that makes a huge difference on a monthly basis to how much they pay."

Harder to make legal challenges against France deal than it was Rwanda

Steve Valdez-Symonds, the refugee and migration rights programme director at Amnesty International, spoke to Sky News earlier about the government's returns deal with France.

He says the fact France is more closely aligned with the UK than Rwanda on human rights than Rwanda "will certainly make it much more difficult to bring the sort of claim that ultimately did for the Rwanda scheme".

Valdez-Symonds reckons the Home Office will "want to show that it can work", when referring to the France scheme. 

As such, he said that "some poor souls will be returned to France".

"Whether over the longer term anything like this can truly operate effectively, I have very serious doubts," he added.

-SKY NEWS