Yahoo News Rishi Sunak not telling the truth on Tory tax cuts, warn experts
The prime minister pledged to make further tax cuts as the Conservative Party launches its manifesto.
Rishi Sunak has been accused of not being honest about his proposed tax cuts as the Conservative Party prepare to launch their general election manifesto.
The Tories are set to promise a further 2p cut in employee national insurance when they publish their manifesto on Tuesday.
In an interview with BBC Panorama broadcast on Monday evening, Sunak told journalist Nick Robinson that "taxes are being cut", but a fact-checking charity has warned he wasn't telling the whole truth.
Full Fact said on X, formerly Twitter: "While National Insurance contributions have been reduced, the nation’s so-called ‘tax burden’ is high, and forecast to rise to a near-record level."
It added: "As Mr Sunak said, the effective personal tax rate for the average earner is at its lowest for decades, but this doesn’t include all the taxes people pay."
On #BBCPanorama Rishi Sunak said: “Taxes are being cut.”
While National Insurance contributions have been reduced, the nation’s so-called ‘tax burden’ is high, and forecast to rise to a near-record level. #GE24 (1/2) pic.twitter.com/sP4JuqVHha— Full Fact (@FullFact) June 10, 2024
On its website, Full Fact said: "He claimed 'taxes are being cut'. It’s true that national insurance contributions have been reduced, but the nation’s so-called ‘tax burden’ is high and forecast to rise to a near-record level.
"Mr Sunak was correct to say the effective personal tax rate for the average earner is the lowest for decades, but this doesn’t include all the taxes people pay."
Watch: Rishi Sunak makes manifesto tax cut pledge during Panorama interview
The charity also highlighted that Sunak repeated his claim that families would face a £2,000 tax rise if Labour got into power, a figure it described as "unreliable and based on a number of questionable assumptions".
On Tuesday, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the prime minister is "taking people for fools".
He said Labour would not match the Tory commitment to cut national insurance "because the money simply isn't there".
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Streeting said the public should “look really carefully at this enormous and desperate attempt to buy people’s votes at this election with a whole raft of unfunded spending commitments and tax cuts”.
Labour will deliver its own manifesto on Thursday, and like the Tories they are expected to keep income tax thresholds frozen until 2028, meaning more people will pay greater tax as their wages rise.
The Conservatives are also pledging to increase income tax personal allowance for pensioners, national service for 18-year-olds and a further 8,000 police officers.
National insurance, a tax on earnings, is currently at 8% with the Conservatives promising to lower it to 6%.
The government has already cut the rate for employees by 2% twice this year, dropping it from 12% to 8%.
Full Fact questioned a number of the prime minister's claims in the Panorama interview.
Responding to his claim that NHS waiting lists "are now coming down", it said that while it was true that the number of cases on the main NHS England waiting list has dropped from a high of 7.8 million in September 2023, it is still higher than when Sunak vowed in January 2023 that they would fall.
