RISHI Sunak today vowed to slash taxes, hike child benefits and impose national service in a last-ditch bid to turn the polls around.
At Silverstone race track the PM unveiled the Conservative Party manifesto, containing dozens of promises including halving migration and help for first-time-buyers.
Addressing an audience of the Tory faithful, Mr Sunak said: "Now is the time for bold action - not an uncertain Sir Keir Starmer as our Prime Minister.
"Labour left Britain on the brink of bankruptcy.
"Labour offer no solutions to our problems, they would only make things worse.
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"There is a clear choice at this election.
"We are the only party putting bold action on the table to transform our country."
He added: “Labour have nothing to say about the problems our country faces and how best to address them. Nothing.
"Keir Starmer is asking for a blank cheque and he will not tell people which taxes he is going to put up that are ultimately going to cost them £2,000.”
The PM admitted: "I'm not blind to the fact that people are frustrated with my party and frustrated with me.
"Things have not always been easy and we have not always got everything right.
"But we are the only party in this election with the big ideas to make our country a better place to live.
"If Labour wins this time they will change the rules so that they are in power for a very long time.
"So if you don't know what Labour will do, don't vote for it."
Mr Sunak’s manifesto includes pledges to
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- CUT National Insurance by a further 2p by 2027, taking the main rate to 6 per cent
- ABOLISH National Insurance entirely for self-employed workers by 2029
- PROTECT pensioners from ever paying income tax with a new Triple Lock Plus
- GIVE working parents 30 hours a week free childcare by September next year
- CREATE a mandatory new form of national service for 18-year-olds
- IMPOSE a ban on any new green levies that makes Brits pay for Net Zero
- BAN mobile phones in classrooms as well as clamping down on sex education
- BOOSTING defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030
- SLAP an annual cap on legal migration while pledging immediate Rwanda flights
- CUT stamp duty on houses for first time buyers up to £425,000
In an effort to stop the wheels coming off his campaign, the PM pledged to slash national insurance by another 2 per cent in 2027.
The move would take the total number of Tory tax cuts to 6 per cent.
And placing clear blue water between himself and Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Sunak declared he'd abolish the main rate of self-employed NICs altogether by 2029.
He said: "We will enable working people to keep more money that you earn because you have earned it and have the right to choose what you spend it on.
"Now, Keir Starmer takes a very different view. He says he's a socialist and we all know what socialists do, don't we?
"They take more of your money because they think it belongs to them."
In a win for silver-haired Brits, the PM made a 'triple lock plus' promise to raise the tax-free pension allowance to save OAPs £275 by 2030.
And he told parents he'd hike the threshold for paying back child benefits to £120,000.
Addressing the housing crisis blighting Britain, the PM said he'd build 1.6 million new homes and permanently abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties under £425,000.
And Help to Buy, where the government lends money to wannabe homeowners so they can purchase a property, would also be revived.
Taking the fight to migration, the PM announced plans for a cap on the number of work and family visas every year.
But he stopped short of a firm pledge to get tough on Strasbourg meddling in Britain’s border controls.
The party manifesto said: "We will run a relentless, continual process of permanently removing illegal migrants to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of flights every month, starting this July, until the boats are stopped.
"If we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the ECHR, we will always choose our security."
In an offer to drivers ULEZ zones would be scrapped and local people would get to vote on the imposition of low-traffic neighbourhoods.
Mr Sunak is running out of chances to turn his faltering election campaign around having left it at risk of imploding over his decision to leave last week’s D-Day commemorations in Normandy early.
The latest polling, by Redfield and Wilton, has the Tories trailing Labour by 26 points.
Senior Conservatives are hoping today’s manifesto can be a reset moment for the campaign.
But Cabinet ministers have already privately admitted to being underwhelmed by the lack of big offers.
Sir Keir today slammed the PM for delivering a "Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto" riddled with unfunded promises.
He called the launch the “most expensive panic attack in history”.
On a campaign visit in Middlesbrough he said: "We have been absolutely clear that all our plans are fully costed and funded.
"We will not be increasing income tax, national insurance or VAT, so no tax increases for working people. None of our plans require tax rises.
"But this is coming from the party that put tax to the highest level for 70 years and they're building this sort of Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto where anything you want can go in it. None of it is costed. It's a recipe for more of the same.
"That's why this choice of turn our back on this, turn the page and rebuild with Labour is so important."
Pat McFadden, Labour's National Campaign Coordinator, said: “This Conservative Manifesto is a recipe for five more years of Tory chaos.
“Tory desperation leads to costs for the British people. The public is still paying the price of the Conservatives crashing the economy. Now they promise a repeat if they win again leading to higher mortgages and a weaker economy.
“After today the choice at this election could not be clearer: five more years of chaos with the Conservatives or stability and growth with Labour.”
