Laying into Labour’s tax plans, Neil claimed Labour has told “barefaced lies” which the British people “will find out to our cost come its first Budget”.
Andrew Neil claims Labour has shown itself to be traditional borrow, tax and spend Labour government (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer is a “stranger to the truth” who duped the public into thinking his administration wasn’t just a “traditional borrow, tax and spend Labour government”, Andrew Neil has claimed.
Laying into Labour’s tax plans in a column for The Daily Mail, Neil said Labour has told “barefaced lies” which the British people “will find out to our cost come its first Budget on October 30”.
“We were assured Labour’s plans for extra spending were modest and fully costed – that there was no need to increase taxes overall, bar a few small, specific rises, such as VAT on school fees,” Neil, the chairman of The Spectator said.
“Yet, in under two weeks, we will be landed, in cash terms, with the biggest tax raid in history – to be piled mercilessly on top of what is already the highest tax burden for 70 years.
“We were promised there would be no rise in taxes for ‘working people’. Now we learn Chancellor Rachel Reeves is likely to whack up fuel duty by £5billion, which looks suspiciously like a tax on working people (just ask white van man),” he added.
Neil accused the Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) and the Labour leadership of telling ‘barefaced lies’ in the election campaign (Image: Getty)
Last month Sir Keir offered his latest hint that employers’ National Insurance will be increasing in the budget, prompting accusations Labour are on the verge of breaking a manifesto promise.
The public declaration of Labour’s aims government stated: “Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT.”
Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have suggested that there is a distinction between the NI employees have to pay and the NI employers are subject to, stressing that the pledge in the manifesto was a “reference to employees”, BBC News reports.
But Neil insists the document “made no distinction between employers’ and employees’ NICs. It simply ruled out a rise in NICs, period.
“To say employers will now have to pay more is at the least a sleight of hand, if not another downright lie. It’s also another tax on workers.
“The consensus of economic research is that a rise in employer payroll taxes reduces job creation and pay rises. It is, after all, a tax on jobs, leaving companies with less money to hire more or pay more. So working people will pay,” he added.
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In her speech at the Labour party conference last month, Reeves said: “Yes, we must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions, but I won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain.
“So, it will be a budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, a budget to deliver the change that we promised, a Budget to rebuild Britain,” she told delegates.
Sir Keir was asked whether Labour’s budget plans were in line with manifesto promises during a Q&A following his remarks at the Quad meeting, saying: “In relation to our manifesto, we are going to keep our manifesto pledges as we go into that election, I’ve made that very clear.
“I’m not going to preempt the individual measures that will be outlined by the Chancellor in due course, but I make fully clear this is going to be a Budget that will fix the foundations and rebuild our country.”
