Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to undo the cut to the top rate of income tax following the move in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which was widely-received as a tax cut for the rich.

The Labour leader, speaking on the first day of the party’s conference in Liverpool yesterday, said that any government he leads would reintroduce the 45p top rate of tax for those earning over £150,000.

He also confirmed that the party would keep the 1p cut to the basic rate of income tax, which was also announced by the Chancellor on Friday.

Sir Keir said that the Tory policy from last week clearly showed that the Government wants to see the “rich get richer”, while offering little for ordinary workers.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 25: Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks to party members during a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II on day one of the Labour Party's annual conference on September 25, 2022 in Liverpool, England The Labour Party hold their annual conference in Liverpool this year. Issues on the agenda are the cost of living crisis, including a call for a reinforced windfall tax, proportional representation and action on the climate crisis. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

“It’s on the back of 12 years of Tory failure. We’ve had an economy that hasn’t really grown very much for 12 years, we’ve had wages which haven’t really moved for 12 years, because they’ve taken the wrong decisions, they haven’t planned for the future,” he said.

“And now we’ve got this decision on Friday to take a very risky approach to the future, driven by this ideology, this argument – wrongheaded argument in my view – that if you simply allow the rich to get richer, somehow that money will trickle down into the pockets of all the rest of us.”

He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssbery that he didn’t think it was the right choice to have tax cuts for those earning hundreds of thousands of pounds “when our economy is struggling the way it is” and “working people are struggling in the way they are”.

It came as details of Labour’s policy offering to the country ahead of a potential snap election were revealed by the party’s front bench, with a heavy focus on the environment.

Yesterday David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said that the party would have a “green dimension” to its foreign policy, ahead of his speech at Labour conference.

He is set to announce a push for an international criminal law against harm to precious habitats as well as restoring the commitment to spent 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid to help developing countries tackle climate change.

“The climate crisis is the biggest challenge the world faces,” he is expected to say later today.

“While Liz Truss tries to row back on our net zero commitments, Labour’s foreign policy will be green.

“Just as Robin Cook was right to introduce an ‘ethical dimension’ to our foreign policy in the 1990s, it is right that the next Labour government introduces a ‘green dimension’.”

However this week tensions between Labour’s leadership and its membership could be thrown into sharp relief when the conference debates public ownership, inflation-proof pay rises and proportional representation.

Earlier this year Sir Keir scrapped the 10 socialist pledges on which he was elected as Labour leader, which included the renationalisation of rail, energy, water and the Royal Mail.

Despite this, recent polling has suggested that Labour still commands a substantial lead over the Conservatives.

Modelling by Savanta ComRes yesterday suggested that the party was on course to win a 56-seat majority at the next election.

Sir Keir said he had picked Labour “up off the canvas” after the 2019 election.

Labour would scrap 'tax cut for the rich' announced by Kwasi Kwarteng