Well, well, well. The gloves are off in the election campaign after Rishi Sunak accused his Labour opponent Keir Starmer of plotting a £2,000 tax grab. Both Conservative and Labour politicians have launched into heated post-match analysis following that claim which was made in Tuesday night’s ITV leaders’ debate — and they’ve taken their spin to the airwaves this morning.
Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth was one of the Labour spinners hard at work in the ITV press room on Tuesday evening and has continued the job on today’s morning round. Talking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Ashworth blasted the Prime Minister for ‘lying’ about Labour’s tax plans in a scathing tirade:
The reality is Rishi Sunak lied last night. He lied out of desperation, presumably because he thinks he’s got nothing to lose by lying, although he could still lose his reputation, of course. This figure is categorically untrue. Labour will not put up income tax, will not put up national insurance, will not put up VAT and what we saw last night was Rishi Sunak exposed as lying because he’s in a corner, and what do people do when desperate and in a corner? They lie.
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