The Prime Minister’s comments about what constitutes “working people” has reignited landlords’ fears that they may be at risk of a tax raid.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa, Keir Starmer said his definition of a working person was “those people who work hard and are anxious about whether they can make ends meet”.

He said those who earn extra income from property and investments weren’t covered by Labour’s manifesto pledge to protect working people from paying more.

The manifesto ruled out putting up rates of income tax, employee National Insurance or VAT and said that “working people” would not pay more tax.

Sir Keir was asked whether someone who works but also gets their income from assets, such as shares and property, was a working person. He told Sky News: “Well, they wouldn’t come within my definition. I think people watching this will know whether they’re in that group or not.”

Ben Beadle (pictured), Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, says: “It is simply not true that landlords are not working people.

“Official data shows that 30 per cent of landlords are employed full time, with a further 10 per cent working part-time. 28 per cent are self-employed in some way, while 35 per cent are retired and are likely to rely on their rental income for their pension.

“Rather than stoking misconceptions, the Government needs to focus instead on the key challenge in the rental market, namely a lack of homes to rent to meet ever growing demand.”

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Tax take

No 10 later said Sir Keir had only been talking about people who “primarily get their income from assets”. A spokesman added: “He’s accepting that people have some savings. Those might be cash savings, or stocks and shares ISA savings or whatever. So, it’s not precluding people that have a small amount of savings. Those individuals clearly are working people.”

It had been reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves would not come after landlords in her Budget speech next Wednesday. However, the Prime Minister’s comments suggest that both landlords and shareholders face being hit with higher rates of Capital Gains Tax if the Chancellor goes ahead with unwinding property tax breaks introduced by the Conservatives in 2022.

A policy change means landlords would soon have to pay up to £14,766 in stamp duty on an average home sale, which amounts to the largest bill on record, according to Hamptons.