Wes Streeting and James Cleverly clashed following a fiery leader’s debate on Sky News on Wednesday night (12/6).
Sir Keir Starmer has promised that Labour’s manifesto will contain no surprises on tax as he sought to calm nerves about the possibility of shock costs to voters in his soon-to-be-unveiled full General Election offer.
Rishi Sunak meanwhile continued to insist he will “keep fighting hard until the last day of this election” after the embattled Prime Minister was forced to say he had not lost hope of winning the contest.
Both party leaders faced jeers and tough questions from audience members as they took part in Sky News’ Battle For No 10 programme, with Mr Sunak booed after claiming the junior doctors’ strike had an impact on NHS waiting lists, while Sir Keir was branded a “political robot”.
The Labour leader was pressed about whether his party would consider hiking fuel duty or capital gains tax to raise more cash for the public purse, after he already ruled out raising income tax, national insurance, or VAT in the next parliament.
Labour’s election manifesto is set to be published on Thursday, but the party has stressed there will be little in it that has not already been announced.
“We’re going to unveil our manifesto tomorrow – no tax surprises, there’s going to be no need to raise tax on the plans we’re setting out,” Sir Keir said at the broadcast event in Grimsby hosted by Sky News.
Asked if he would rule out fuel duty rises, Sir Keir said Labour had supported a freeze on the tax “every single time it has come up”.
When put to him that increasing capital gains tax to the same level as income tax would raise £14 billion a year, he said: “That is not in our manifesto. That is not a choice we are making.
“It will not be unveiled tomorrow. There are no surprises in our manifesto, because our manifesto is a manifesto for growth.”
Following the debate, home secretary James Cleverly and Wes Streeting were embroiled in a fierce clash.
Watch the clip in full below:
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