New capital gains tax rules after July with UK households facing 'hike'

Sir Keir Starmer’s closest aide has sparked fears over a "secret" Labour Party plot to hike capital gains tax – before making a huge U-turn. Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting also did not rule out letting town halls hike council tax to plug budget black holes.

Morgan McSweeney reportedly "liked" a social media post advocating for higher rates. The LinkedIn post Mr McSweeney “liked” from a Labour staffer said it would be “wise politically” for Sir Keir to raise £15billion from increasing capital gains tax, which is levied on assets like homes and shares that gain value.

Conservative Treasury minister Laura Trott told The Sun: “Labour think they can hide these secret tax rises until after the election, but we won't let them get away with it. Keir Starmer should come clean with the British people.”

READ MORE UK braced for 'first' 30C heatwave of year and it will last 72 hours

Mr Streeting told the BBC : “We don’t want to see the tax burden on working people increase, I know the Conservatives have baked into their plans council tax rises, that’s in the government’s spending forecast. What Rachel Reeves is going to work to do is to get growth back into our economy so we can invest in our public services and ease the tax burden on people.”

Mr Streeting urged voters against giving the “matches back to the arsonist to finish the job”, as he suggested a Tory election victory would be a “nightmare on Downing Street”. Mr Streeting said: “If the conditions allow but only if the conditions allow because we’re not going to make promises we can’t keep, we’re not going to make promises the country can’t afford.

“That’s the challenge at this election. What we can’t do now is what the last Labour government did which is to say we’re going to put a penny on national insurance, because we know viscerally that families can’t afford it because they’re already paying a very heavy