Why Tories are taking inspiration from Corbyn to eat into Labour's poll lead - analysis by Christopher Hope
There is a dividing line opening up between the Tories and Labour - but it is not the one you might expect
PA
There is a dividing line opening up between the Tories and Labour - but it is not the one you might expect.
Yesterday I interviewed shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and I was struck by her caution.
When I pressed her on tax and spend she said that income tax and National Insurance would increase in the five years after a Labour victory on July 4.
Nor would Corporation Tax, which she said would be cut from 25 per cent if other countries started to cut their rates.
There is a dividing line opening up between the Tories and Labour - but it is not the one you might expect
PA
She added that there were no plans for wealth taxes, adding for good measure: "There'll be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation.”
Compare this with the Conservatives who splurged billions of pounds on a new plan for a National Service for young people and a guarantee that pension will never pay income tax on the state pension.
Today they want to axe degree courses with questionable value and invest the ringfenced cash in 100,000 new apprenticeship places.
But there is a sense to me that the roles are reversed from 2017 and 2019 when the Tories criticised Labour for finding a "magic money tree" for some of its spending plans.
Now the roles are reversed, with the Conservatives behind in the polls - like Jeremy Corbyn's party was in the previous two elections - and announcing high-value spending plans.
We are still in the first week of the six-week general election campaign, and Labour might well be saving big announcements for its manifesto launch.
But for now the party is sitting pretty on a big poll lead, with no need for any dramatic pronouncements.
Instead it is the Conservative party which has to make all the running.
There is nothing wrong with this. Indeed former Labour MP Anna Turley who is standing in Redcar in the election, said as much, tweeting: "Only one party is ready for government and responsible with your money. The other has already tanked the economy, costing you more, and is now setting fire to things as they leave."
I was struck too yesterday by Reeves - standing in front of a podium saying "change" - telling her audience of business leaders today: "Stability is change."
Reeves was of course referring to the financial chaos unleashed by Liz Truss's autumn mini-budget. At lot has changed since Boris Johnson, and Jeremy Corbyn ran our two main political parties.