a letter from treasure Of UK The information presented was denied by the British Prime Minister, Rishi SunakIn a televised debate this Tuesday, the 6th, just a month before the general election scheduled for July 4. According to the premier, Treasury data indicate that labour party would “raise everyone’s taxes by £2,000”, a gaffe that could raise questions about his credibility among undecided voters.
He said: “Independent Treasury officials have calculated the cost of the Labour Party’s policies and they add up to a tax rise of £2,000 for every working family.”
The speech will be supported by a document from the Conservative Party, led by Sunak, which says the Labour Party will have to arrange 38.5 billion pounds ($49.2 billion) to cover the cost of the campaign proposals, which include a tax increase of “£2,094 per working family over the next four years”. The text also says that “almost all of the costs here were borne by the Treasury”.
However, Sunak’s statement, and the Conservative stance, contradicts a letter from James Bowler, the chief secretary to the Treasury, released on the eve of the debate. The correspondence already stated that “civil servants were not involved in the production or presentation of the Conservative Party document ‘Labour’s tax rise’ or in the calculation of the total amount used”.
Bowler further highlighted that “any costings obtained from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as produced by the public service” and pointed out that the guidance was passed on to “ministers and advisers”. In other words, in practice, the Prime Minister received a “fact check” from the government itself.
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Electoral panorama
For the time being, it appears that public opinion about the prime minister’s performance in the debate with Labour leader Keir Starmer has not been tainted. Polls show that 51% of viewers thought he performed better, while Starmer was thought to have performed better by 49%. This could be good news, if the Labour Party did not comfortably lead the election polls: it received 45% of the vote, while the Conservatives received 23%. If the scenario succeeds, it would be the first time since 2005 that Labour has taken power.
Overall, it hasn’t been a great week for Sunak. Nigel Farage, the architect of the turbulent divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union, announced on Monday 3rd that he will run as a candidate for his far-right Reform UK party in the country’s legislative elections on July 4th. This is a sudden blow to the prime minister, as Farage hopes to pull in an already scarce vote from right-wing voters.
