Politicians should stop tying the knot by promising not to raise taxes, the head of an influential think tank has told Sky News – warning it could lead to something worse.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips On the programme, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, argued that neither of the main parties wanted to talk about the scale of the financial challenge facing the next government.
He made his comments as Work sought to reassure voters with a manifest guarantee not increase income tax, social security or VAT for five years.
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Conservatives accused of subjecting politics to the ‘desperometer’
O election promise follows the highly contested conservative claim that Labor increase taxes by £2,000.
O Conservatives argue that they are now reducing taxes after increases in recent years, with more cuts promised as part of his election speech.
But Johnson said: “I wish they would stop dismissing things because they may well find they regret it when they get into office.
“What worries me, I suppose, is that we’re going to end up – because they’ve ruled out the kind of simple taxes – we’re going to end up with taxes that are complicated and, in fact, quite economically damaging.
“Whether it’s in companies or investments or whatever it is that people can’t see.”
He added: “I just wish they would stop saying what they’re not going to do because they’re tying the knot.
“The more they say we’re not going to increase council tax or reform council tax, that we’re not going to increase income tax or social security contributions and so on, the more they are committed to doing or simply not able to do increase the money they may need or increase it in ways that are actually more harmful than it would be if they did simpler things.”
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Campaigning in Essex, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “We will not increase taxes on workers. That means we will not increase income tax, national insurance or VAT.
“We will be launching our manifesto very soon and there will be no fiscal surprises because all of our plans are fully funded and fully funded and none of them require tax increases beyond those we have already announced.”
Sir Keir insisted that “we will not return to austerity”, despite ruling out personal tax rises to pay for public services, claiming it would deliver sustained economic growth.
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Earlier on Sky News, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride denied that “all is lost” for the Conservative Party, despite trailing far behind in opinion polls.
He told Phillips that “taxes are going down” and “we can continue this journey because of our management of the economy and the fact that we have a plan.”
Stride argued that the alternative for voters was “to go to the Labor Party, who have no plan, who are simply going to do this ‘Ming vase strategy’ where they have a lead in the polls, they don’t want to say anything, say anything , no plans, no ideas, nothing about the future.”
He said the Labor Party hopes to “push the limits almost without anyone noticing” and added: “As for your argument about ‘all is lost’, we’ve got four weeks – that’s a long time in politics.”
Stride also defended the PM’s patriotism after his D-Day gaffe
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But Labor Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood added later in the program: “We are all living in the economic reality left behind by Liz Truss and the Conservatives when they crashed the economy, which is still having a huge impact on family finances across the country. .
“Therefore, our fundamental promise to the British people is that we will not make promises we cannot keep.”
Shadow Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood
She added: “We are not going to put your family’s finances at risk and every proposal we have made is fully funded, fully funded – and that is different to the Conservatives.
“Look what they started this campaign with, first telling lies about our proposals, but also scattered proposals subjected to the conservative desperometer – anything and everything, all paid for by the same pot of money.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey argued that a £2 an hour pay rise for healthcare professionals would help address shortages in the struggling sector.
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He told Phillips: “If you paid that extra money to carers, I think people would choose not to work in supermarkets or Amazon warehouses and things like that, because they would feel that the difficult work of being a carer would be properly rewarded.”
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