Keir Starmer accuses Rishi Sunak of ministerial code breach on Labour tax ‘lies’

Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of “deliberately lying” over Labour’s tax plans – and it was a reflection of the PM’s character.

Mr Starmer said he believed it amounted to a breach of the ministerial code, and would back a probe into the Prime Minister’s behaviour.

Speaking in Portsmouth after last night’s fractious TV debate, the Labour leader said: “What you saw last night was a Prime Minister with his back against the wall, trying desperately to defend an awful record in office, resorting to lies – and deliberately lying.”

During the head-to-head clash, the PM claimed “independent” civil servants had crunched the numbers on Labour’s plans – claiming it would mean working families would pay £2,000 more in taxes. But the most senior civil servant in the Treasury revealed this was not the case.

Top official James Bowler said he had warned ministers not to present the findings as being produced by the civil service. “Everyone’s seen the letter from the Permanent Secretary, so we know he was lying,” Mr Starmer said.

“All of Labour’s plans are fully costed and fully funded. They do not involve tax rises for working people – no income tax rises, no VAT, no national insurance.

“Character matters. He was lying about our plans, and lying about other things. That makes the choice as we go into the election even starker than it was 24 hours ago. Because we can either have more of the same, more chaos, more failure, more division, more lies, or we can turn the page and start to turn the page with Labour.”

Amid D-Day commemorations, Mr Starmer spoke with 99-year-old Len Chivers, a World War II veteran who served on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, and witnessed the 1941 sinking of the HMS Barham in the Mediterranean.

They took a brief cruise around Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard on a D-Day-style landing craft before speaking to reporters.