UK Treasury washes hands off tax figures Sunak quoted, as Labour on course to win election
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Rishi Sunak knocked down Keir Starmer a couple of times in their first head to head live television debate for the job of United Kingdom Prime Minister, and the incumbent narrowly won the final count, but the Treasury has flatly denied his claim about tax figures that aided his debate triumph over the Labour Party leader.
CNN reports the Treasury contradicted Sunak’s claim that its impartial officials had calculated that the opposition Labour Party would “put up everyone’s taxes by £2,000.”
Sunak made the claim during the televised debate on Tuesday ahead of the general election on July 4 as he and Starmer clashed on issues ranging from the cost-of-living and immigration, to the state of the National Health Service (NHS).
“Independent Treasury officials have costed Labour’s policies and they amount to a £2,000 tax rise for every working family,” Sunak said. The Conservative Party leader later repeated the claim.
Consequences of Tinubu dodging presidential debate buffet Nigerians
The first UK election debate this year was fierce but fairly and impressively moderated by ITV host Julie Etchingham.
She ensured the two men did not veer off course, and it showed the contrast between a “figures man” Sunak and a “level headed” Starmer, who got intermittent rounds of applause from a live studio audience in Manchester.
The stage afforded both the live audience and the viewing public the opportunity to assess the competence or otherwise of the debaters, unlike in Nigeria where Bola Tinubu refused to participate in presidential debates last year, and went on, in his own words, to “snatch, grab, and run” with a contrived victory.
A year on the job, Nigeria’s President is publicly displaying his incompetence and lack of planning – which he hid from voters during the campaign but – which now expose and dog his administration, demystifying the secretive Tinubu with severe embarrassment.
Atiku Abubakar, one of the presidential candidates last year, repeated on Wednesday his accusation of Tinubu of “running Nigeria on trial-and-error economic policies” – that have sunk the poor deeper into poverty, and bankrupted the rich, without any concrete foundation (except deceit and propaganda) being laid for improvement, as public funds are being stolen or wasted by government officials.
Treasury official denies Sunak’s tax claim
According to CNN, on the eve of the UK debate, James Bowler, the most senior civil servant in the Treasury, said officials in his department had not been involved in producing the tax number Sunak used to stun Starmer on the stage.
In a letter dated June 3, a copy of which was posted to X by senior Labour Party official Darren Jones, Bowler wrote that “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.”
The Conservative Party document claims that Labour would have to find £38.5 billion ($49.2 billion) to meet all of its spending commitments, either borrowing the money or raising taxes by “£2,094 per working household over the next four years.”
The document states that “almost every costing contained here has been conducted by (the) Treasury.”
In his letter to Labour, Bowler said he had cautioned senior Conservative Party officials and advisers against suggesting that the £38.5 billion figure was based on Treasury analysis.
He said that “any costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service,” adding that he had “reminded Ministers and advisers that this should be the case.”
Photo issued by the Labour Party of a letter sent by Permanent Secretary to the Treasury James Bowler to senior Labour Party official Darren Jones. The Labour Party/PA.
Sunak undermines his claim to lead with integrity
Sunak narrowly won the debate Tuesday, according to an opinion poll. A YouGov snap poll of 1,657 viewers showed 51 per cent thought he performed better, compared to 49 per cent for Starmer.
But Bowler’s letter could undermine Sunak’s claim to lead with integrity – pledge made when he became prime minister in October 2022 – as he battles a high-stakes election.
Opinion polls suggest the Conservatives are set to be booted from office, with Labour on course to win a UK election for the first time since 2005.
In a statement Wednesday, Labour said Sunak had “lied eleven times to the British people” about the party’s tax plans.
“Labour will not raise taxes on working people. It’s the Tories who have made £71 billion of unfunded promises that will mean higher taxes and higher borrowing,” the party wrote in an emailed campaign message.
During the debate Tuesday, Starmer dismissed the £2,000 ($2,560) figure as “nonsense” and said it was based on “pretend” Labour policies.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said that its document on Labour’s tax plans “used clear Labour policies, their own costings or official (Treasury) costings using the lowest assumptions.”
In a statement shared with CNN, the spokesperson added: “It is now for Labour to explain which of the policies which were Labour policy no longer are Labour policy.”
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