Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of lying after it emerged that a senior Treasury official warned ministers not to attribute the Conservatives' £2,000 tax rise claim to civil servants. In a letter to Labour, Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler stated that the figure should not be presented as produced by the civil service.
Bowler's letter, addressed to shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones on 3 June, said a Tory document 'includes costs beyond those provided by the civil service' and stressed that 'costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the civil service'. He added that he had reminded ministers and advisers of this.
During the ITV debate, Sunak repeatedly said 'independent Treasury officials' had costed Labour's policies, amounting to a £2,000 tax rise. Reeves told broadcasters on Wednesday: 'Rishi Sunak lied 12 times in the debate last night about Labour’s tax plans.' She contrasted this with the Conservatives' record of the highest tax burden in 70 years.
Energy secretary Claire Coutinho defended the claim, stating on BBC Breakfast that the figure came from 'official costings from the Treasury' and that civil servants were 'brilliant, independent' and would not 'put anything dodgy' in the briefing. She later clarified that the £2,000 figure represented a rise 'over the course of parliament'. The Tories' document estimated Labour policies would cost £38.5bn, translating to £2,094 per working household.
Labour's Jonathan Ashworth also hit out, saying: 'Rishi Sunak was resorting to lying because he is desperate.' He reiterated that Labour would not raise income tax, national insurance, or VAT. The row follows Sunak's debate claims that Labour would 'raid' pensions and raise taxes, which Starmer initially appeared slow to rebut but later labelled 'absolute garbage'.
