SIR KEIR STARMER will today call on the government to “put families first” during the ongoing third coronavirus lockdown by reversing cuts to benefits and a planned rise to council tax.

The Labour leader’s first speech of the year sets out the party’s priorities for the months ahead, in which he will outline proposals to stop a planned cut in universal credit for six million families, halt a planned council tax rise and give key workers a pay increase.

PM Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are allowing councils and mayors to increase council tax by up to 5 per cent from April, saying that it would pay for extra support for local services.

But yesterday Sir Keir called the planned hit to families’ purse strings “absurd.”

He suggested that the government gave councils the funding they needed to prevent the planned council tax rise, which will cost the average Band D household an extra £91 a year.

In his speech Sir Keir will accuse the Tories of having the “wrong priorities for Britain,” highlighting the fact that the PM’s sacked senior adviser Dominic Cummings received a £40,000 pay rise.

He will also stress the £22 billion that the government “wasted” on a failing test-and-trace system run by outsourced companies.  

Sir Keir will also urge the government to extend the ban on evictions and repossessions while Britain remains in lockdown.

He is expected to say: “Taking these steps now would make a real difference to millions of people across the country and it would put families at the heart of our recovery.”

Sir Keir has said families had been treated as an “afterthought” during the pandemic, adding that Labour would be the “party of the family” under his leadership.