RISHI Sunak has said the Conservative Party manifesto will “continue to cut people’s taxes” despite his party overseeing a record rise in the tax burden.
Figures provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has previously showed the UK’s current level of tax burden is the highest on record.
Yet during an interview with Nick Robinson on BBC Panorama, Sunak claimed the party would “continue to cut people’s taxes”.
He said: “We will have a manifesto tomorrow that builds on all the things that you’ve just gone through, that we’ve already announced in this campaign, that, yes, does continue to cut people’s taxes, because I believe in a country where people’s hard work is rewarded.
“And there’s a clear choice in contrast at this election, our party, the Conservatives, are promising, and will deliver tax cuts, building on the tax cuts that we have already started to deliver, and have ruled out tax rises, that’s not what the Labour Party are doing.
“They are being open that some taxes are going to go up, but what they’re not telling everyone is that there is a £2000 tax bill waiting for working families across our country if they are elected.”
Robinson immediately rebuked Sunak’s use of the £2000 figure, which the Treasury’s top civil servant said should not be presented as coming from the civil service.
The UK’s statistics watchdog also criticised Sunak’s use of the figure during last week’s head-to-head debate with Keir Starmer.
“You’ve got a bit of a nerve, haven’t you, having a go at the Labour Party?
🚨 NEW: Rishi Sunak pushes back in a heated exchange after the BBC's Nick Robinson accuses him of "having a bit of a nerve" to claim Labour will put up taxes#panorama pic.twitter.com/NiixTMN3p8
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 10, 2024
“You’ve raised our taxes by record amounts, £93 billion. You’ve produced some figures, criticised by the boss of the Treasury, criticised by the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, criticised by the former head of the civil service.
“And yet you come to this interview and you repeat something that you’ve said that they all think is misleading.”
A stunned Sunak paused before saying: “Because, it’s right”.
He then attempted to defend his use of the figure, claiming that the figures used were “available and transparent”.
