Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
The Conservatives will aim to revive their ailing general election campaign with a manifesto launch set promising giveaways including another 2p cut in national insurance.
Rishi Sunak is expected to tell voters the Tories believe in “sound money” and “are the party of Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson” – the latter renowned for cutting taxes during his time as chancellor in the Thatcher government.
The manifesto is set to contain a string of giveaways amounting to almost £20bn in tax cuts and spending, including the national insurance cut, child benefit expansion and an income tax cut for pensioners.
A group of rightwing Tories will be watching the event closely as they plan to present a “rebel manifesto” in case it falls flat. Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick are reportedly plotting alternative pledges for tougher migration laws.
It comes after the prime minister doubled down on his disputed claim that a Labour government would result in household taxes going up by £2,000. During an election interview with BBC’s Panorama programme broadcast on Monday evening, Mr Sunak stood by the figure when it was put to him as “misleading”.
Tories publish letter from Simon Case over £2,000 Labour tax row
Conservative chairman Richard Holden has published a letter from Simon Case which claims that the Civil Service produced 21 of the costing used in the Tories’ tax attack on Labour.
The row started after Jeremy Hunt presented the “Labour Tax Rises” dossier after the secretary of the Treasury questioned the accuracy of the costings.
In response, Mr Holden wrote to Mr Case to confirm that the Treasury letter didn’t claim that the prime minister lied.
What can we expect in the Tory manifesto?
The Conservatives are attempting to draw dividing lines with the Labour party on tax.
Here are some of the pledges we can expect in the manifesto:
- Cutting the rate of national insurance by 2p in a bid to get rid of it entirely.
- Scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers by lifting the threshold of the tax on buying a home to £425,000.
- Implementing a Help to Buy Scheme to help people trying to pay for a deposit to buy a home. First-time buyers would be given 20% of government equity loan.
- Landlords offered capital gains tax relief if they sell their property to current renters.
Labour: Tory manifesto ‘most expensive panic attack in history’
Wes Streeting has claimed the Tory manifesto launch will be the “most expensive panic attack in history”.
The shadow health secretary said Rishi Sunak will be promise “all sorts of unfunded spending commitments” although the “money isn’t there” to pay for them.
Exclusive: Justice secretary’s fight to protect ECHR in Sunak’s Tory manifesto
A series of secret tapes have exposed the depth of the Tory civil war over ditching the European Convention of Human Rights(ECHR), our political editor David Maddox reports.
Rishi Sunak is expected to confirm in his manifesto today that he will leave the door open to leaving or trying to reform the ECHR, which was inspired by Winston Churchill after the Second World War, by vowing to put border protection ahead of foreign courts.
But a recording of justice secretary Alex Chalk speaking to Tory members at the Two Cities Conservatives reception on 20 February reveals he was opposed to the move.
Mr Chalk, who is also the lord chancellor and a lawyer, was defending the government’s Rwanda Bill to support deportations going ahead and making the case that the ECHR did not need amending.
Ditching the ECHR is being championed by Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, which is splitting the right-wing vote in British politics. But it has also become a cause of the Tory MPs on the right, led by former home secretary Suella Braverman and ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick.
Join The Independent’s General Election WhatsApp Channel
The Independent has launched a brand new WhatsApp Community, bringing you the latest news on the General Election as the campaign unfolds.
Never miss a big story as our dedicated politics team will keep you informed on the latest breaking news, exclusive features, gripping interviews and must-watch videos.
You can expect breaking news alerts, exclusive poll results and campaign updates, cutting-edge opinion from our commentators and Premium news analysis from our award-winning journalists.
For more details on how your data is used, our privacy policy, community guidelines and more, click here
Labour pledges to ban energy drinks for under-16s
The party said the carbonated drinks would be banned for children under the age of 16 due to their “dangerously high” caffeine content.
Labour said the “toxic” product would be outlawed to prevent schoolchildren from attending class “wired on the equivalent of three shots of espresso”.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said that the crackdown comes in a bid to tackle the “outcry” from parents and teachers.
Wes Streeting not ruling out capital gains tax changes
Wes Streeting is not ruling out that a Labour government would make changes to capital gains tax, which is paid on profits from selling an asset.
But he suggested the move would not be part of the manifesto.
Asked about it on BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he said: “Our manifesto is out on Thursday but I can tell you that nothing in that manifesto requires an increase in capital gains tax.”
Asked again if changes could be made, he said: “Well, the manifesto will be out on Thursday. I have to be a bit careful about not preempting that.
“But I don’t think any of those things you have just mentioned are in Labour’s manifesto on Thursday.”
It comes as Jonathan Ashworth also refused to rule out raising capital gains tax or corporation tax if Sir Keir Starmer’s party wins the election.
Reform UK defends candidate over Hitler comments
The official Reform spokesperson has defended Ian Gribbin over comments he made that Britain should have “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality”.
The candidate for Bexhill and Battle reportedly wrote on a website’s comment section: “Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.”
He also reportedly said that women were the “sponging gender” and should be “deprived of health care”.
The party said the comments were “probably true” and “shared by the vast majority of the British establishment including the BBC of its day”.
The spokesperson also told The Jewish Chronicle that Mr Gribbin had “done nothing wrong” and he would not be sacked.
The BBC later said Gribbin had apologised for the “old comments and withdraw them unreservedly and the upset that they have caused”.
Tories: Labour trying to ‘drift across the line’
Mel Stride has claimed Labour is trying to “drift across the line” and into power and accused Sir Keir Starmer of using a “Ming Vase” strategy during the general election campaign.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told Sky News: “If you think about this election campaign, you have got Labour who don’t want to say anything, they want to keep a small profile, they want to carry that Ming Vase across the polished floor, they want to hold onto that lead and drift across the line.
“We are the party that is out there with the bold, clear plan for our country.”
Source: independent.co.uk
