- By Jennifer McKiernan
- BBC political reporter
Sir Keir Starmer paid just under £100,000 in tax last year, the Labour Party has confirmed.
A summary released by the party showed Sir Keir paid £44,308 – nearly half of his bill – in income tax.
He also paid £52,688 in capital gains tax after the December 2022 sale of a field partly owned by his father’s estate.
The £99,431 bill for last year brings the total tax Sir Keir has paid since 2020 to £218,011.
Last year, the former lawyer published a summary revealing he had paid £118,580 in UK tax on total earnings of £359,720 in the previous two financial years.
This included more than £21,000 for legal services in 2020 up until April that year, when he became Labour leader and stopped taking on legal work, plus £85,000 in capital gains in 2022 from the sale of a home he had bought with his sister.
It was previously reported that the Labour leader had sold a plot of land he had bought in the 1990s for his parents, who used it to care for neglected donkeys.
Reports at the time put the sale at £400,000. According to the latest tax summary, Sir Keir gained £275,739 from the land sale.
Sir Keir’s latest “summary” of his UK taxable income, capital gains and tax paid over the last tax year as reported to HM Revenue & Customs, was prepared by his chartered accountants.
The one-page document showed that he earned £79,098 as an MP, with an added salary of £49,193 for his role as leader of the opposition, bringing his income to more than £128,000.
Image source, Getty Images
Rishi Sunak paid nearly five times more in tax last year than his Labour counterpart
Mr Sunak has also published details of his earnings since entering No 10 in October 2022, following a commitment he made during his unsuccessful Tory leadership campaign in the summer of 2022.
The first publication, in March last year, covered the previous three financial years, including before he became prime minister.
The records show Mr Sunak has paid more than £1.5 million in tax since 2019:
- £227,350 on total earnings of £1,018,389 in 2019/20
- £393,217 on total earnings of £1,777,581 in 2020/21
- £432,493 on total earnings of £1,970,992 in 2021/22
- £508,308 on earnings of just over £2.2m in 2022/23
David Cameron became the first UK prime minister to publish a summary of his tax returns in 2016, after revelations about his late father’s offshore fund.
Theresa May released her tax return during her campaign to be Tory leader in 2016, but did not do so when she was prime minister.
The two prime ministers who preceded Mr Sunak – Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who held the post for less than two months – did not publish their tax returns.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
