Rishi Sunak has launched the Conservative party manifesto, with the prime minister promising tax giveaways in a bid to revive their ailing general election campaign.
Speaking from Silverstone, the prime minister said he has a “clear and bold plan” for the country and pledged to abolish national insurance for the self-employed. He said over four million workers would be exempted from the tax.
The manifesto includes 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.
But the promises have been questioned by Labour which labelled the manifesto the “most expensive panic attack in history”. Wes Streeting said the pledges can’t be paid for because “there is no money”.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has been targeted by a protester during a campaign trail in South Yorkshire. The Reform UK leader had objects thrown at him while he was at the top of his party’s battle bus in Barnsley.
Rachel Reeves to hold press conference at 4pm
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4pm to respond to the Tory party manifesto.
Launching his party’s manifesto earlier, Rishi Sunak announced plans for a series of tax cuts as he sought to win over voters ahead of the general election.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of producing a “Jeremy Corbyn-style” document, “where anything you want can go in it. None of it is costed.”
We’ll bring you live updates from Reeve’s press conference when it kicks off – stay tuned for the latest updates.
Tories’ pledge to scrap 20mph policy in Wales accused of ‘misleading’
In the section of Wales, the Tory manifesto pledges to scrap Labbour’s 20mp speed limit. But under devolution powers, a future Conservative government would be unable to do so.
Labour: Sunak’s manifesto is ‘desperate wish list he cannot fund’
The shadow paymaster general has labelled the Conservative manifesto as a “desperate wish list” full of “excessive commitments” that “cannot be funded”.
Jonathan Ashworth said te plans would lead to “five more years of chaos” and the proposed policies would leave working families with higher mortgages.
He added: “Rishi Sunak could not explain how we will pay for this long, desperate wish list of commitments when we know who will pay, because we saw that with Liz Truss.”
Richest families most benefited by Tory manifesto tax plans, think tank warns
The Resolution Foundation has warned that the rischest 20 per cent of households will benefit most from the Conservatives’ tax plans.
In a statement, it wrote: “Total tax giveaways announced in the manifesto today amount to £17.2bn a year by the end of the decade.
“RF analysis of these tax cuts (which excludes the one-off Stamp Duty cut for first-time buyers) shows that the biggest gainers overall are the richest fifth of households, who are set to gain £1,300 on average, compared to the poorest fifth who would gain £150.”
Pictured: Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson campaigning in Ashfield
Farage says attack on him was ‘pretty nasty’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the attack on him on Tuesday morning was “pretty nasty”.
Speaking while campaigning in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, he said that the police tipped them off early that it was “not a very good idea” to leave the battlebus.
He said: “Protest is allowed. Protest is part of our democratic process. But protest needs to be within certain bounds. Protest does not involve chucking cement towards me, or even stones.
“I don’t mind if someone shouts something rude at me, I would probably shout it back. But when it comes to violence that actually poses a real threat.”
He called the attack “violent” and said he would be in hospital now if he had got off the bus.
Mr Farage said he agrees that people who throw objects during campaigns should “absolutely” go to jail.
Joe Murphy: Rishi was all revved up for his manifesto’s Silverstone launch… but it ended in a pile-up
What is in the Conservative manifesto?
In case you’ve missed the ride at Silverstone, here are some of the key pledges from the Tory manifesto.
The 76-page booklet contains 17 promises to tackle various issues like economic growth, welfare system, crime, net zero, food security and migration.
- Another 2p off employee national insurance by April 2027.
- Scrap the rate of self-employed national insurance entirely by the end of Parliament.
- Introduce a “triple lock plus” for pensioners in a bid to ensure that state pension doesn’t get dragged into income tax.
- Create 100,000 apprenticeships for young people funded by axing “poor quality” university degrees.
- Increase defence spending by 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
- Implement a legal cap on migration by restricting the number of work and family visas issued.
- Set out a regular number of flights off to Rwanda every month starting in July.
- Hike NHS spending above inflation every year and recruit more nurses and doctors.
- Abolish stamp duty for homes up to £425,000 for first-time buyers and introduce a new Help to Buy scheme.
Shutting the door after the car has bolted?
The Tories have pledged to bring in a Backing Drivers Bill if they win power again, David Maddox reports.
This includes reversing Sadiq Khan’s expansion of Ulez, an issue which still divides Londoners but failed to prevent the Labour mayor being reelected.
The problem with this is that for months transport secretary Mark Harper and Rishi Sunak both insisted they could not bring in legislation to reverse Ulez.
They claimed that the decision could only be made by the Mayor of London and if voters wanted to change it they needed to elected Susan Hall.
Ms Hall was beaten healthily by Mr Khan and now the Tories are promising to pass a new law. It will also ban blanket low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and 20mph zones.
IFS: Average earners’ taxes at Lowes in five decades
The director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said that taxes of average earners have plummeted to the lowest level in 50 years.
Paul Johnson also warned numbers risk decreasing even further if the Conservatives get into power after the general election.
He told Sky News: “It is already the case that despite the high level of taxes overall, taxes on people on average earnings today are probably the lowest they’ve been in 50 years and the proposals, if implemented, that the Conservatives have here will bring those taxes on people on average earnings down even further.
“So there is a big gap between what is happening in the economy as a whole – people on high incomes, companies are paying a lot more tax, people on average earnings are not.”
