9 minutes ago Getty ImagesLabour and the Conservatives have been challenged over how they would fund their election pledges, ahead of their manifestos being launched next week. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned the next government would have to cut the scope of what the state provides or increase taxes to maintain levels of departmental spending. Both parties have said they will not raise the rate of income tax, National Insurance or VAT. On the campaign trail on Sunday, Labour announced plans to build more prisons, while the Tories focused on welfare reform and the Liberal Democrats on support for carers. Speaking on a visit to Essex, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out spending cuts to public services but said his party would “not be raising taxes on working people”. “All of our plans are fully funded and fully costed and none of them require tax rises over and above the ones that we’ve already announced,” he said. Labour has already said it would end tax breaks for private schools which exempt them from VAT and close the loopholes allowing some people with non-dom status to avoid paying tax in the UK if it wins power. It has also promised a time-limited windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies. Asked if he could rule out spending cuts, Sir Keir said: “We are not returning to austerity. We will grow our economy.”However, the Scottish National Party challenged Sir Keir to “finally start being straight with the public and explain where the Labour axe will fall on public services”. The party said £18bn of public service cuts were coming down the line “because of the decisions made by both the Conservatives and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party”. Meanwhile, Reform UK has said it wo …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn9 minutes ago Getty ImagesLabour and the Conservatives have been challenged over how they would fund their election pledges, ahead of their manifestos being launched next week. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned the next government would have to cut the scope of what the state provides or increase taxes to maintain levels of departmental spending. Both parties have said they will not raise the rate of income tax, National Insurance or VAT. On the campaign trail on Sunday, Labour announced plans to build more prisons, while the Tories focused on welfare reform and the Liberal Democrats on support for carers. Speaking on a visit to Essex, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out spending cuts to public services but said his party would “not be raising taxes on working people”. “All of our plans are fully funded and fully costed and none of them require tax rises over and above the ones that we’ve already announced,” he said. Labour has already said it would end tax breaks for private schools which exempt them from VAT and close the loopholes allowing some people with non-dom status to avoid paying tax in the UK if it wins power. It has also promised a time-limited windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies. Asked if he could rule out spending cuts, Sir Keir said: “We are not returning to austerity. We will grow our economy.”However, the Scottish National Party challenged Sir Keir to “finally start being straight with the public and explain where the Labour axe will fall on public services”. The party said £18bn of public service cuts were coming down the line “because of the decisions made by both the Conservatives and Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party”. Meanwhile, Reform UK has said it wo …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
