A letter from Treasure of UK The British Prime Minister denied the information Rishi Sunak, in a televised debate this Tuesday, the 4th, a month ahead of the general election scheduled for July 6. According to the Prime Minister, the data from the Treasury indicates Labor Party “Will raise everyone's taxes by £2,000”, which may have his credibility questioned by undecided voters.
“Independent Treasury officials have calculated the costs of Labour's policies and they have added a £2,000 tax rise for every working family,” he said.
The talk will be backed by a Conservative document led by Sunak, which says Labor needs to find 38.5 billion pounds ($49.2 billion) to cover the cost of campaign plans. A tax increase of “£2,094 per working family over the next four years”. The text also adds that “all expenses hereunder were borne by the Treasury.”
However, Sunak's statement and the Conservative position were contradicted by a letter from Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Bowler ahead of the debate. “Civil servants were not involved in the preparation or delivery of the Conservative Party's document on 'labour tax increases' or the calculation of the total amount used,” the correspondence has already said.
Bowler also noted that “any expenditure received from other sources or produced by other bodies should not be shown to have been produced by the public service”, adding that guidance had been sent to “ministers and advisers”. In other words, in practice, the Prime Minister received a “reality check” from the government itself.
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Election panorama
For now, the debate with Labor leader Keir Starmer appears not to have tainted public opinion on the Prime Minister's performance. Polls showed 51% of viewers thought he had done well, compared to Starmer's 49%. It may be good news if Labor is not comfortably leading the polls: it won 45% of voting intentions against 23% for the Conservatives. If this scenario materialises, Labor will be in power for the first time since 2005.
It hasn't been a smooth week for Sunak. Nigel Farage, the architect behind the tumultuous divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union, announced on Monday the 3rd that he will stand as the candidate of his far-right Reform UK Party in the country's general election on July 4. It was a blow to the prime minister as Farage was expected to win an already rare vote from right-wing voters.
