In the final Prime Minister’s Questions before Parliament’s summer recess, Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced sustained questioning from Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch about who will be protected from future tax increases under Labour’s fiscal plans. Badenoch pressed Starmer to define the “modest incomes” referenced by several Labour ministers and asked whether self-employed workers and pension contributions would be targeted. Starmer declined to give a numerical threshold, instead saying that “working people” are those who work hard but lack the savings to buy themselves out of financial problems. He argued that the previous Conservative government had repeatedly failed the self-employed and insisted his administration would focus tax rises elsewhere. The prime minister told MPs that employment had risen by 380,000 since Labour took office and that the United Kingdom recorded the fastest growth in the G-7 in the first quarter. He blamed a £22 billion fiscal hole and the nation’s lowest living standards on 14 years of Conservative rule, while Badenoch cited an Office for Budget Responsibility warning that high taxes could stifle growth and urged spending cuts instead of further levies. Labour’s manifesto pledged to keep taxes on working people low, but the absence of a clear income definition has intensified calls for clarity ahead of the autumn Budget. The exchange underscored the political stakes surrounding the government’s revenue-raising options as borrowing costs and public-service demands continue to climb.