Bungling Sir Keir Starmer had a letter to dispute Rishi Sunak’s bombshell £2,000 tax claim – but DIDN’T mention it
BUNGLING Sir Keir Starmer had a letter from the Treasury distancing officials from the Tories’ painful £2,000 tax bombshell attack – but failed to deploy it in the debate.
The flustered Labour chief did not quote from a note written to his party by top Whitehall mandarin James Bowler, who revealed the Tories' headline £38bn figure used "costs beyond those provided by the civil service”.
Mr Bowler also said the number – repeatedly cited by Rishi Sunak during the ITV head-to-head – “should not be presented as having been produced" by impartial Treasury economists.
This morning Labour said the note, sent in response to a query by shadow cabinet member Darren Jones on Monday, showed the PM was a "desperate liar".
Mr Sunak had repeatedly said the damaging figure was generated by impartial Treasury economists.
Today the Office for Statistics Regulation also confirmed it was investigating the PM's claim that Labour would stage a £2,094 tax raid on families.
Read more about the debate
Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News: “This is a desperate lie.
"He lied about Labour's tax plans. What he said last night about Labour's tax plans is categorically untrue.
"Labour will not put up income tax, not put up National Insurance will not put up VAT.
"And I think what we showed last night with Rishi Sunak was how desperate he becomes - what desperate people do is they lie."
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But probed on why Sir Keir did not use the letter to rebut Mr Sunak's attacks during the debate, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Labour leader was “really clear” that the claim was false.
She added: “I don’t think Keir Starmer expected the prime minister to lie in the debate last night”.
Top Tories pointed out Bowler's letter did not say the figure was wrong – adding it took Sir Keir 20 minutes to challenge the total in the ITV debate.
Our exclusive worm poll on Never Mind The Ballots also showed that Rishi's tax claims proved popular with voters.
Sir Keir eventually called the number “garbage” after Sunak blasted Labour’s spending plans, adding it would mean “£2,000 in higher taxes for every working family in our country”.
The Tories first used the figure as part of their advertising campaigns last month and said they used Treasury costings or Labour’s own funding figures to calculate the "black hole".
But Mr Ashworth insisted: "Every commitment we are making in this campaign is funded.
"We're explaining where every penny piece comes from."
Full letter from James Bowler to Labour's Darren Jones
Dear Darren,
Opposition Costings
Thank you for your letter dated 24 May 2024 regarding the presentation of Opposition policy costings.
As you will be aware, when costing the policies of opposition parties HM Treasury and the wider Civil Service follow established guidance set out in the Directory of Civil Service Guidance. As per this guidance, the costings produced by HM Treasury and the wider Civil Service are published on the gov.uk website. As you will expect, civil servants were not involved in the production or presentation of the Conservative Party’s document ‘Labour’s Tax Rises’ or in the calculation of the total figure used.
In your letter you highlight that the £38bn figure used in the Conservative Party’s publication includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service and published online by HM Treasury.
I agree that any costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service.
I have reminded Ministers and advisers that this should be the case.
Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told BBC Breakfast that Tory claim was actually “an underestimate” of the real impact of Labour’s policies.
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She added: “These are brilliant independent civil servants and they would not be putting anything dodgy in there.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “We were fair to Labour in the production of the Labour tax rise briefing note and used only clear Labour policies, their own costings or official HM Treasury costings using the lowest assumptions."
