TORIES STILL THE PARTY OF LOWER TAXES, INSISTS MAY
THERESA May has insisted the Conservatives remain the party of “lower taxes” but refused to repeat their 2015 manifesto pledge not to put up income tax, VAT or national insurance.
At an election campaign event in Dudley in the West Midlands, the Prime Minister said voters faced a choice on June 8 between “lower taxes under the Conservatives or higher taxes under Labour”.
But pressed by reporters, she would not be drawn on whether the previous commitment under David Cameron not to raise taxes would be included in the party’s manifesto for the forthcoming general election.
Her comments came after Chancellor Philip Hammond hinted he would like to ditch the pledge, suggesting he needed more “flexibility” when it came to managing the economy. His remarks prompted shadow chancellor John McDonnell to claim that the Conservatives were planning a “tax bombshell” if they were returned to power.
However, Mrs May told supporters: “At this election people are going to have a very clear choice. They will have a choice between a Conservative Party which always has been, is and will continue to be a party that believes in lower taxes, in keeping taxes down for ordinary working people.
“Or the choice is a Labour Party whose natural instinct is always to raise taxes. That’s the choice lower taxes under the Conservatives or higher taxes under Labour.”
Despite the Conservatives’ commanding 20-point lead over Labour in the opinion polls, Mrs May insisted there was no room for complacency going into the campaign.
Amid concern among some Tories that expectations about the likely result are getting out of hand – with predictions of a landslide – she said they still had to fight for every vote.
“I am not complacent about forthcoming election,” she said.
“The opinion polls got the general election wrong in 2015. They got the EU referendum wrong. And as Jeremy Corbyn has himself said, he was a 200-to-1 this chance for Labour leadership and look at how that went.
“So we will not be complacent. We will be fighting for every single vote.”
The Prime Minister has risked angering traditionalist Conservatives after she reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to international aid spending while refusing to guarantee the “triple lock” for pensioners.
Meanwhile, fired-up Jeremy Corbyn yesterday ordered activists to “go for it” as he visited a Tory marginal on the first weekend of Labour’s “flying start” election campaign.
Mr Corbyn was mobbed and met with cheers from around 100 party activists knocking doors and posting leaflets in the Warrington South constituency.
He spent around 50 minutes on the visit, knocking on a door himself – of a local Labour Party member.
Speaking to activists, Mr Corbyn, on his eighth campaign visit since the election was called last week, said: “We’re calling time on this Tory government and we’ve got until June the 8th to get a message out there.
“A message out there of what this country could be. What it could achieve, for everybody. So that nobody and no community is left behind.
“So when we knock on those doors, the message is of hope, the message is of opportunity, the message is of decency for older people and opportunities for younger people.
“We embrace the entire community, that is the Labour way and that is the Labour message. Go for it. Get those votes, get their support.”