UK PM Starmer warns of 'painful' October budget to tackle shortfall in public finances

• U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday told the nation that the upcoming October budget would be "painful," as he paves the way for government spending cuts to address a £22 billion ($29 billion) financing shortfall.
• Starmer said the U.K.'s public finances were "worse than we ever imagined" and that "difficult" decisions lay ahead, after he announced plans to test winter fuel payments made to pensioners.

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday told the nation that the upcoming October budget would be "painful," as he paves the way for spending cuts to address what the government says is a £22 billion ($29 billion) financing shortfall.

"We have no other choice given the situation that we're in," Starmer said in a speech in the gardens of 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence.

"Those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden, that's why we're cracking down on non-doms," he added, referring to U.K. residents whose domicile is outside of the country for tax purposes.

"Those who made the mess should have to do their bit to clean it up, that's why we're strengthening the powers of the water regulator and backing tough fines on the water companies who have let sewage flood our rivers, lakes and seas," Starmer said. "But just as when I responded to the riots, I'll have to turn to the country and make big asks of you as well, to accept short-term pain for long-term good, the difficult trade-off for the genuine solution."

Starmer's Labour party took power in early July following a landslide election victory. The U.K. parliament is on a summer break between July 30 and Sept. 2, although the new government has been navigating challenges including a series of riots around the nation