Fact check: Tory claims over Labour tax plans are based on policy assumptions

The £2,000 suggested is based on figures produced by the Conservative Party which the Labour Party has disputed.

The debate was screened on ITV on Tuesday (Jonathan Hordle/ITV/PA) (PA Media)

During the ITV Debate on Tuesday June 4 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeatedly claimed that Labour’s policies would lead to tax rises of £2,000 per family.

Evaluation

Labour has not said it has plans to increase a household’s tax by £2,000. The  figure is based on an estimate produced by the Conservative Party, which the Labour Party disputes, and would be spread over four years.

The facts

The claim comes from a document produced by the Conservatives. That document made a series of assumptions to estimate the cost that might be attached to potential Labour policies.

It claimed that the difference between the money that Labour would raise from its policies, and the amount it would spend, would be a deficit of £38.5 billion over four years.

The document says that a Labour government would have the option to raise this money by increasing taxes, but alternatively it could borrow to cover the cost.

That would be around £2,094 for every working household, the Conservatives’ document claimed. There are 18.4 million working households in the UK.

Some of the estimates in the document have been carried out by civil servants at the Treasury, using assumptions provided by Conservative Party special advisers. Other calculations were not provided by the civil servants.

Labour has disputed the figures in the document. During Tuesday night’s debate, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “What’s happened here is they put in pretend Labour policies to the Treasury, and then they get a false readout.

“What they’ve put in for this analysis is a mental health policy that isn’t the Labour Party’s policy, he’s put in one of his own policies. He’s asked the civil service to cost it. They’ve come up with this figure of £2,000.”

Labour has yet to release its full manifesto for the General Election and potential costings.

Links

Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate

Conservatives – Labour’s Tax rises (archived)