Martin Lewis rebukes Tories for using him in ad targeting Labour tax plans

The Money Saving Expert founder criticised a post by the Tories on X, formerly Twitter.

Martin Lewis (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

Martin Lewis has hit out at the Conservatives for using him in an attack ad claiming Labour would hike taxes.

The Money Saving Expert founder criticised a post by the Tories on X, formerly Twitter, which included a clip of him describing how a senior Labour member had told him they wanted to introduce a policy that was not in its manifesto.

The video was featured alongside the words: “They’re not telling you the full truth. Labour have said they wouldn’t put up your taxes. But it’s now becoming clear that they have every intention to put them up.”

Mr Lewis said the discussion he had been referring to was not about tax rises.

“NO WHERE in this comment do I talk about taxes,” he wrote on X.

“And the policy that I discussed (i will keep private as it was private) was NOT about taxes, or tax rises, it was about something that would be a positive change.”

The Tories’ original post was later tagged with a “community note” – a feature on X allowing readers to add context to a claim.

The note read: “Martin Lewis has confirmed that the policy he refers to in the video was not about taxes, and so is unrelated to the text it is presented alongside.”

Mr Lewis earlier clashed with Labour frontbencher Liz Kendall over council tax bands.

During an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he asked the shadow work and pensions secretary whether the current system is fair.

Ms Kendall replied: “There are many things that are unfair in life, Martin, as you know.”

She added that the party’s priority was to “grow the economy” and it was not planning to reform the system.

The Conservatives have focused campaign attacks on Labour’s plans for tax, which they claim will be raised under Labour.

Labour, like the Tories, has promised not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT during the next parliament.

The Conservatives claim Labour proposals would increase taxes by £2,000 for every working family, a figure disputed by Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

The Tories say they reached this figure by adding up how much Labour’s spending commitments would cost over four years and dividing that by the number of UK households with at least one person working.

Sir Keir says the Labour manifesto is fully costed and will not require the additional hikes the Tories claim would be necessary.