Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of plotting a tax raid on the middle classes after he admitted that the looming Budget will be ‘painful’.

During a doom-laden speech from the  Downing Street rose garden yesterday, the Prime Minister warned that the country must accept ‘short-term pain’ for ‘long-term good’.

Paving the way for hikes to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and a possible raid on pensions, he said those with the ‘broadest shoulders’ should bear the brunt.