Civil servant hits back at Sunak's £2,000 tax rise attack on Labour as Tories accused of 'red-faced lying'
Sunak is under fire for his claim Labour will raise taxes by £2,000 per household
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A top civil servant has cast doubt on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's accusation that the Labour Party will raise taxes by £2,000 if it wins the General Election on July 4.
During ITV's leadership debate yesterday, Sunak claimed the figure was based on research conducted by Treasury officials with the opposition party's plans reportedly set to cost the taxpayer more than £38.5billion.
However, Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler has cast doubt on this tax attack from the Tories which has resulted in the Conservatives being accused of "red-faced lying".
He said the £38.5billion total for Labour's policies, which Sunak suggested would result in tax rises totalling £2,094 per working household, "includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service".
In a letter to shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones, Bowler said: “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."
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Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak speak on stage during the first head-to-head debate of the General ElectionGettyDespite this intervention from a top civil servant, Conservative ministers have defended the Prime Minister's claims in media rounds this morning.
Earlier today, Cabinet minister Claire Coutinho told BBC Breakfast: “Firstly, these are official costings from the Treasury, based on policies that the Labour Party has set out in documents and that they’ve said will be in the manifesto.”
The policymaker cited that the Treasury calculated costs for Labour's plans were based on “assumptions from special advisers”, who are politically appointees.
She added: "So the costs that came out of the policies is £2,000, but if you look at the most expensive policy, it’s one in my area – it’s their green plan, and they’ve said multiple times that would cost the country £28billion a year and they then actually watered down the cost but they kept the policies."
In response to this doubling down, shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said the Tories have been caught "red-faced lying".
He said the Conservative Party's campaign calculations were "not accurate".
Ashworth said: "Every single policy that we put forward in this campaign will be fully costed and will explain where the money is coming from.”
Based on polling conducted by Pollster JL Partners (JLP), Sir Keir Starmer outperformed Rishi Sunak in the leaders’ debate on ITV on Tuesday.
Some 53 per cent of survey respondents thought the Labour leader performed better during the televised debate.
In comparison, only 33 per cent of those polled preferred the Prime Minster while 13 per cent did not know who was better.
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Tories claim Labour will raise tax bills significantly
GETTYOut of those who voted for the Conservative Party at the 2019 General Election, 60 per cent said Mr Sunak performed better.
This was compared with 33 per cent who thought Starmer performed better.
In Savanta's poll, the Labour leader beat Sunak by 44 per cent to 39 per cent.
However, YouGov’s snap poll from last night put the the country's leader slightly ahead on 51 per cent to Starmer at 4.9 per cent.