Rishi Sunak has denied Sir Keir Starmer’s accusations that he “lied” by saying Labour would hike taxes by £2,000 in claims criticised by the UK statistics watchdog.
The Prime Minister said the Labour leader was “obviously very rattled” after he repeatedly deployed the attack line during an ITV election debate earlier this week.
Mr Sunak had claimed that “independent Treasury officials” have costed Labour’s policies “and they amount to a £2,000 tax rise for everyone”.
But the Treasury’s permanent secretary James Bowler said ministers had been told not to suggest civil servants produced the figure.
In an interview published by ITV as the fallout deepened on Thursday, the Prime Minister said: “Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are obviously very rattled that we’ve exposed their plans to raise tax on people. And that’s what it, that’s what it demonstrates.”
Asked whether the numbers were instead based on assumptions drawn up by Tory advisers, Mr Sunak said: “No. The analysis and the working is done by Treasury officials.”
The row stems 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 said that Labour’s plans had a £38.5 billion deficit over four years, the equivalent of £2,094 for every working household, which the Tories claim would be filled with tax hikes.
In a statement on Thursday, the Office for Statistics Regulation, which previously warned political parties to use figures appropriately during the campaign, suggested the Conservatives had failed to make clear their calculations.
“Without reading the full Conservative Party costing document, someone hearing the claim would have no way of knowing that this is an estimate summed together over four years,” the statement read.
“We warned against this practice a few days ago, following its use in presenting prospective future increases in defence spending.”
Some of the estimated costings in the document were also produced by civil servants at the Treasury, using assumptions provided by politically appointed special advisers.
But Mr Bowler said the headline figure used by the Tories should not be attributed to impartial civil servants because it went beyond that official work.
Labour says many of its policies will not cost anywhere near as much as the Conservatives suggested in their dossier.
Sir Keir has said the Prime Minister’s “made-up” claim had given an “insight into his character” and suggested he had broken the Ministerial Code by lying.
The party is set to agree on a final version of its manifesto on Friday at the closed-doors Clause V meeting of MPs, union representatives and members.
D-Day commemorations meant that campaigning for the July 4 polling day momentarily took a backseat earlier on Thursday, with the Prime Minister addressing veterans in Normandy.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here