Tory ‘kamikaze’ spending plans danger sending mortgages hovering, Labour warns
Rishi Sunak’s “kamikaze” spending plans risk sending interest rates soaring and could plunge the UK back into recession, Labour has claimed.
At an emergency press conference in central London, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury warned the country cannot afford five more years of the Tories.
Releasing a document, examining the “cost of chaos”, he claimed the party had so far promised “£71billion of unfunded spending commitments”. Mr Jones said this could result in a 2.5 percentage point hike to interest rates and hit monthly mortgage payments on a typical home by £350.
Referring to ex-PM Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget, he said: “This is not ancient history or theory from a textbook. This is what we all went through as a country less than two years ago, with Liz Truss’s kamikaze Budget being followed by Rishi Sunak’s kamikaze manifesto.”
“The Conservatives have simply not learnt the lesson and they are doing it all over again. Their behaviour is economy crashing, family finance destroying madness and it cannot continue.”
The document – with the tagline “Truss 2.0” – looks at comments and commitments from Tory ministers during the General Election campaign so far. It includes Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s long-term commitment to abolish National Insurance Contributions, which Labour says would cost £46billion per year.
Labour also estimates scrapping inheritance tax would cost £10billion-per-year. Last year the Tories abandoned plans to slash inheritance tax for the richest families. But in an interview this week Mr Hunt described the policy as “pernicious” and “profoundly anti-Conservative”.
Labour also estimates the PM’s chaotic plan to introduce mandatory National Service would come with a price tag of £4.9billion per year by 2029. Mr Jones added: “If the Conservatives carry on down this path, with unsustainable, unfunded promises, it could cause a loss in market confidence once again, leading to increases in interest rates.
“It will mean our economy sliding back into recession and ordinary people around the country paying the price with their jobs and their mortgage bills all over again.” Mr Jones denied he was attempting to scare voters, saying the document was setting out Conservative Party commitments.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Really this is pathetic, desperate stuff from the Labour Party as they scramble to distract from the fact it has been proven Keir Starmer lied on multiple occasions about the Diane Abbott investigation.”
