Martin Lewis fumes at ‘disingenuous’ Labour stance on risk of pension tax raid

Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, sat down with Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis for a revealing chat ahead of the general election. As the finance guru doubled down on potential tax raid on pensions, with future of the 25% tax-free allowance on pensions hanging in the balance, he felt he didn’t get the answers he was looking for.

When asked if the allowance, which allows Brits to take a quarter of their pension pot out as a lumpsum free of tax charges, could be scrapped, Ms Kendall failed to rule out this possibility entirely. She said: “We have set out all of our plans in the manifesto. There is nothing in our manifesto that requires us to make any other changes.”

Chatting with the politician on ITV ’s Good Morning Britain, Martin branded the answer “disingenuous” as the party could opt to do things outside of their manifesto. He doubled down on the line of questioning but Ms Kendall insisted: “I’m being completely straight and honest. There’s nothing in our manifesto that requires us to make any other changes. We have absolutely no plans for any other changes on taxes than is in our manifesto.”

In the manifesto, Labour has approached the topic of tax as the party promised not to raise the rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT. However, other potential changes on levies such as capital gains tax, inheritance tax and council tax have been left unspoken.