Martin Lewis pushes Cabinet minister Claire Coutinho to apologise on live TV for Labour £2,000 tax hike claim

Consumer champion Martin Lewis pushed Cabinet minister Claire Coutinho to apologise live on TV over the Tories claim of a £2,000 tax hike on households if Labour wins the election.The Money Saving Expert challenged the Energy Security Secretary about the tax allegation when she appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.In the first TV debate on Tuesday night, Rishi Sunak repeatedly accused Sir Keir Starmer of having an economic plan which would mean households in Britain would see their tax bills rise by £2,000.Only after being probed repeatedly about this claim did the Labour leader eventually dismiss it as “absolute garbage”.The figures for this alleged £38 billion tax hit on the country were, at least partially, based on calculations done by civil servants at the Treasury, though reportedly at the request of Tory special advisers.Labour has dismissed the Tories’ publication on its tax plans as a “lie,” saying it includes policies which it is not planning to bring in, or not on the scale proposed.Labour this morning put out a letter, sent from the Treasury’s top civil servant James Bowler to Darren Jones, the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, about the Tories’ claims about Labour’s tax plans.