RISHI Sunak opened up a new front in the tax war tonight — demanding Labour match a fresh election pledge to stop family homes being targeted.
The PM upped the pressure with a promise to protect 26million properties from any extra bill rises if he wins next month’s election.
His Family Homes Guarantee rules out the prospect of a costly council tax shake-up and includes a commitment not to raise the rate or level of stamp duty.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt threw down the gauntlet to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves to mirror the pledge. In the past, she has suggested a council tax overhaul which could drive up bills.
It came after Sir Keir Starmer struggled to shut down claims of a £2,000 tax whack on families.
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As the gloves came off, the incredulous Labour leader branded Mr Sunak a “liar” for making the claim on Tuesday’s TV debate.
But the PM stressed the position again, warning that a £38.5billion black hole in Labour’s spending plans would force them to raid household budgets.
Keeping the tax row going, he pledged a Tory government would not increase the number of council tax bands or launch a review into revaluation of property prices.
Conservative sources point to Labour-run Wales where technology is being developed to spy on garden sizes, as the government there looks to overhaul council tax.
It came as a Tory dossier became the centre of a dust-up because it was said to use official Treasury costings of Labour policies.
It showed the Opposition had pledged £59billion of commitments but would raise only £20billion.
That equates to a shortfall over four years averaging £2,094 for 18.4million tax-paying households.
Conservative Treasury Minister Laura Trott said: “We have tried to be extremely reasonable in these assumptions and very, very transparent in terms of how they were put across.”
It enraged Labour who tried to dismiss the document as smears but had not successfully demolished its claims.
Speaking in Portsmouth, where he and Mr Sunak, and the PM’s wife Akshata Murty, watched a fly-past to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Sir Keir insisted Labour’s plans were “fully costed and fully funded”.
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He said: “They do not involve tax rises for working people, no income tax rises, no VAT, no national insurance. What you saw last night was a Prime Minister with his back against the wall trying desperately to defend an awful record in office, resorting to lies and deliberately lying.”
A Tory source hit back: “Sir Grumpy needs a lie down so he can work out which taxes he wants to put up to fill his black hole.
“He needs to find £2,094 from every working household and come clean with voters instead of ranting and raving about his own policies.”
The civil service was dragged into the row as Labour brandished a two-day old letter from a senior Treasury mandarin insisting they were not Whitehall costings.
Shadow frontbencher Darren Jones had complained last month that Tory analysis was being presented as independent.
The official statistics watchdog said it was looking into whether the claims were misleading, while Sir Keir even accused Mr Sunak of breaking the ministerial code by lying.
Yet Tories ramped up attacks, with senior sources standing 100 per cent behind their maths — and throwing down the gauntlet to Labour to show why they were wrong.
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Labour said the numbers were made up but was not expected to offer a comprehensive rebuttal for fear it would keep the row running.
Both sides have made claims the other is plotting tax grabs to pay for unfunded promises — a feature of recent campaigns.
An exclusive poll for The Sun showed Mr Sunak has electoral merit in hammering out tough messages on taxes, immigration and national service.
The survey for our Never Mind the Ballots show found the PM won Tuesday’s TV bout 60 to 33 among the winnable voters who gave Boris Johnson his election landslide five years ago.
He was 20 points down across the population as a whole for the telly clash — mirroring the wider national opinion polls.
A separate snap YouGov poll put the PM ahead by 51 per cent to 49.
Our poll, by market research group J.L. Partners, showed Mr Sunak’s “aggressive” performance in the first head-to-head appeared to have paid off with his base.
Landing blows on tax, borders and supporting pensioners, the PM did well with the crucial coalition of voters he needs to hold together to have any chance of staying in No10.
Leading pollster James Johnson urged Downing Street to zero in on last-time Conservative supporters with bold “red meat” policies.
A live worm tracker from J.L. Partners — showing viewers’ reaction in real-time — saw Mr Sunak open up clear dividing lines with Labour on key issues.
Last-time Tory voters gave him the thumbs-up on Rwanda, with them rallying as he said: “If I’m elected illegal migrants will be on the planes, with Labour they’ll be on the streets.” Meanwhile, those who went with Labour in 2019 hated his border plan, with their worm line sinking dramatically.
Mr Sunak also got a cheer from previous Conservative voters when vowing to protect pensioners from paying income tax in the future.
A furious spat erupted as Sir Keir dismissed accusations he was plotting a “retirement tax”.
But on Never Mind The Ballots, pollster Mr Johnson said: “The voters are not convinced by Keir Starmer having to explain some of his policies, and pensioners rally to the Tory base.”
And Mr Sunak’s national service plan also proved a hit with Tories while going down badly with Labour.
