Sir Keir Starmer accuses Rishi Sunak of 'lying' over Labour's tax plans 'to defend 14 years of failure'
The prime minister said Labour's plans will create a 拢38.5bn hole in public finances over four years but Sir Keir Starmer rejected that accusation during the first leaders' debate of the election. On Wednesday, other senior figures went further to accuse the prime minister of lying.
Wednesday 5 June 2024 21:26, UK
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of deliberately lying over his claim Labour's tax plans would cost families 拢2,000.
The Labour leader said the prime minister's comments were a "flash of his character" and he was "desperately" trying to defend 14 years of "failure".
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Mr Sunak claimed multiple times during the first TV election debate last night that Labour's plans for the country were not costed and would require annual tax rises of £2,000 per family.
He said this was due to a £38.5bn black hole over four years and the number was worked out by impartial civil servants.
However many experts, including Sky's economics and data editor Ed Conway, say the claim is dubious.
Sir Keir told reporters in Portsmouth: "We've been very clear throughout that all of our plans are fully costed and fully funded.
"That means no tax rises for working people. And I'll spell it out now. No income tax, no national insurance, no VAT."
He added: "What you saw last night was a prime minister with his back against the wall, desperately trying to defend 14 years of failure, resorting - and it was a flash of his character, an insight into his character - to lies. I don't say that lightly."
Sir Keir had called the claim "absolute garbage" during the ITV debate on Tuesday, but this was only after Mr Sunak said it repeatedly throughout the show.
After a YouGov snap poll suggested 51% of viewers thought the prime minister won the debate, senior Labour figures came out fighting this morning, with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth accusing him of lying.
The Tories are sticking by the attack line - though Conservative minister Laura Trott confirmed the £2,000 was over a parliament, which is four years, not just a year.
Read more: Ed Conway analysis - Both parties are in fantasy land
Watchdog 'looking into' £2,000 claim
The UK Statistics Authority, which safeguards the production and publication of official statistics, told Sky News it is "looking into" Mr Sunak's claims.
And according to Sky's Ed Conway, who crunched the numbers, not only is the figure dubious but it is smaller than the tax rises experienced under the Conservatives since 2019 - which amounts to an average of around £3,000 a year per person.
The row stems , before the election was called, which purported to calculate all Labour's proposed tax and spending plans.
Labour said the costings relied on "assumptions from special advisers" appointed by the prime minister rather than an impartial Civil Service assessment, as Mr Sunak had suggested.
The prime minister's claims were further called into question by a note from the Treasury's chief civil servant which said the Conservative assessment "should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service".
In a letter to Labour's shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones, James Bowler said the £38.5bn total for Labour policies in the Tory document "includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service".
"Costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service," he said.
He said he had "reminded ministers and advisers that this should be the case".
Tories stick by their numbers
However, energy secretary Claire Coutinho said the numbers were signed off by Mr Bowler, adding: "They will not sign off things which are dodgy and, if anything, this underestimates the cost to families."
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And a Conservative spokesman said: "We were fair to Labour in the production of the Labour tax rise briefing note and used clear Labour policies, their own costings or official HMT [His Majesty's Treasury] costings using the lowest assumptions.
"For example, using Labour's figures for the spending items in the Green Prosperity Plan using £23.7bn over four years instead of £28bn a year.
"It is now for Labour to explain which of the policies which were Labour policy no longer are Labour policy."