Rattled Keir Starmer accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘lies’ on Labour tax hikes

A rattled Keir Starmer today accused Rishi Sunak of ‘lying’ about Labour’s tax plans during bad-tempered election TV debate clashes.

Sir Keir made the blunt allegation as Labour desperately tries to limit damage from the head-to-head on ITV.

The PM repeatedly insisted that Sir Keir was plotting to increase the burden on Brits, saying he would ‘raise your taxes and raid your pension’. 

Asked in Portsmouth this afternoon why he didn’t deny the claim more quickly during the debate, Sir Keir said: ‘What matters is the facts. All of our plans are fully costed, fully funded, don’t involve tax rises for working people.

‘I’ll spell that out, no income tax, no national insurance, no VAT. What you saw is the prime minister with his back against the wall desperately lashing out and resorting to lies.

‘And he knew he was lying. I don’t say that lightly, it’s not the sort of thing that I say. He was lying, he was lying about our plans, he was lying about the boats, he was lying about waiting lists.’

However, Mr Sunak has doubled down – posting a video on social media of a huge red pig floating over British cities with audio of Sir Keir saying ‘£2,000’.  

Labour’s rearguard action came as snap polls suggested that Mr Sunak made an impact on key battlegrounds last night, despite the Conservatives lagging massively behind overall.

YouGov suggested viewers thought Mr Sunak narrowly edged the contest by 51 per cent to 49 per cent. He was seen as doing better on the critical areas of tax and immigration, although Sir Keir had the advantage on almost everything else.

Savanta and JL Partners surveys this morning indicated that the Labour leader was seen as coming out on top. 

However, Tories were jubilant that the tax issue has dominated the fallout from the debate. 

Mr Sunak insisted during the ITV programme that ‘independent Treasury officials’ had costed Labour’s policies ‘and they amount to a £2,000 tax rise for everyone’.

The claim comes from a document produced by the Conservatives which made a series of assumptions to estimate the cost that might be attached to potential Labour policies.

It claimed that the difference between the money that Labour would raise from its policies and the amount it would spend would be a deficit of £38.5billion over four years, amounting to around £2,094 for every working household.

Some of the estimates in the document have been carried out by civil servants at the Treasury, using assumptions provided by politically appointed special advisers.

But the Treasury’s permanent secretary James Bowler said ministers had been told not to suggest civil servants produced the headline figure.

In a letter to Labour’s shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones he said the £38.5billion 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 in a letter to Mr Jones on June 3.

‘I have reminded ministers and advisers that this should be the case.’

Mr Jones demanded an apology from Mr Sunak.

‘Civil servants confirmed they had told Tory ministers they were not allowed to say their dodgy attacks on Labour were independently done by civil servants,’ he said.

‘Last night Rishi Sunak did it anyway. He lied to the British people. He must apologise.’

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and fellow frontbencher Jon Ashworth were sent out to broadcast studios to accuse the premier of ‘lies’.

But Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho repeated the claim, saying it was based on ‘official costings from the Treasury’.

She told BBC Breakfast: ‘I’ve worked in the Treasury and I can tell you that these are brilliant, independent civil servants and they would not be putting anything dodgy in there.’

On Times Radio Ms Coutinho even claimed ‘this is something which has been signed off by the permanent secretary of the Treasury’, adding ‘those costings have been done by independent Treasury civil servants’.

Mr Ashworth said: ‘I feel that Rishi Sunak was exposed as desperate last night – desperately lying about Labour’s tax plans, making accusations about Labour’s tax plans which are categorically untrue – Labour will not put up income tax, will not put up national insurance, will not put up VAT.’

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Rishi Sunak was resorting to lying because he is desperate and what do desperate people do when in a corner? They lie.’

Campaigning on will be low key today as commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day begin.

Both Mr Sunak and Sir Keir attended the UK’s national commemoration event in Portsmouth alongside members of the royal family and armed forces veterans, before attention is focused across the Channel for further anniversary events in Normandy tomorrow.

Savanta found Sir Keir outperformed Mr Sunak in last night’s debate.

They found the Labour leader beat Mr Sunak by 44 per cent to 39 per cent. They found Sir Keir had outperformed the PM on the NHS and public services (63 per cent to 25 per cent), on the economy (52 per cent to 36 per cent), and defence and security (43 per cent to 41 per cent).

Pollsters at the firm also found Sir Keir ‘came across as most honest’ among voters  (54 per cent to 29 per cent), and that the Labour leader ‘remained the calmest’ (51 per cent to 36 per cent).

Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political research director, said: ‘Presentationally, it felt like the Prime Minister had the upper hand at times – in particular towards the end of the debate – and although our figures suggest he lost narrowly, he probably still outperformed expectations.’

During the tetchy exchanges on ITV last night, where both leaders repeatedly spoke over each as host Julie Etchingham struggled to rein them in, Mr Sunak warned Brits that Sir Keir will ‘raise your taxes and raid your pensions’ and has ‘no plan’ to tackle immigration.

Nigel Farage was the ghost at the feast after he announced a run to become a Reform MP, with Mr Sunak stressing that only he and Sir Keir can end up in No10 and a vote for ‘other’ parties will only guarantee Labour in power.

‘Beyond raising your taxes and raiding your pensions, no one knows what he will do,’ Mr Sunak said of his rival. ‘I have a clear plan for a more secure future for you and your family.’ 

With Labour miles ahead in opinion polls, Mr Sunak had to go on the offensive last night. And he went hard from the start, berating Sir Keir for plotting to hike the tax burden by £2,000. 

He later went on the attack over Net Zero saying Sir Keir would inflict big costs by forcing people to upgrade boilers and change cars. ‘Mark my words Labour will raise your taxes,’ he said. 

However, Sir Keir said that was ‘nonsense’ and he wanted to ‘turn the page’ with a ‘practical plan’ for the country.

He jibed that Mr Sunak calling the election early demonstrated that he did not believe the ‘plan was working’. ‘If he thinks that things are going to get better why has he called it now?’ Sir Keir said.

The leaders crossed swords on immigration, with Mr Sunak arguing the Rwanda policy could help stop small boats. When Sir Keir branded it an ‘expensive gimmick’ Mr Sunak shot back: ‘You might not like it but I’ve got a plan.’

Sir Keir also taunted the ‘desperate’ Tory leader that he was the ‘most liberal’ PM ever because legal net immigration is running at record levels – with the latest figures at 685,000 a year.

Mr Sunak received a round of applause as he said he was prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to ensure migrants could be deported. But Sir Keir was also clapped as he said the UK should stick to its legal obligations.     

There were groans from the audience as Mr Sunak was challenged over NHS waiting lists, and claimed they were ‘coming down’. ‘They are coming down from when they were higher,’ he said.

Sir Keir said Labour would not pay a 35 per cent rise for junior doctors but insisted he could ‘resolve’ the long-running dispute that has hampered efforts to bring down NHS waiting lists.

However he blushed as he was put on the spot by the PM saying: ‘Just standing there saying, ‘I’ll resolve it’ isn’t an answer. That’s not a plan.’ 

Mr Sunak was targeted with more muttering from the crowd as he said the health service had been hit by ‘industrial action’. ‘So you’re blaming someone else,’ Sir Keir shot back.

The stakes for Mr Sunak were underlined just before the start of the debate by huge Survation research showing Labour is on track for the biggest majority in modern political history at 324 seats – compared to the 179 margin Tony Blair achieved. 

The survey – conducted using the so-called MRP technique – projected the Conservatives would be reduced to just 71 MPs.

Mr Sunak would barely manage to cling on to his own Richmond & Northallerton constituency. It also suggested Reform could win three, as Nigel Farage launches his bombshell bid to win a constituency.