Starmer will hand families £2,200 tax bombshell, say Tories

SIR Keir Starmer would pile £2,200 a year on working families, a Cabinet Minister has claimed – as he challenged the Labour leader to come clean about his spending plans.

Tory Chairman Richard Holden said that Labour’s promise to invest £28billion in green jobs would be ‘impossible’ without a massive incometax rise for all workers.

In a fiery interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Holden said the pledge, combined with Labour’s vow not to increase borrowing, would lead to the basic rate of income tax rising from 20 per cent to 25 per cent – the equivalent of an annual £2,200 hike for the average twoincome household, but Labour strongly denied the claim.

As Chairman, Mr Holden is busy preparing his party for an Election year. Despite growing speculation of a spring poll, he told the MoS: ‘The chance of a May Election is about a third. It is more likely to be at the back end of the year. My job is to be ready whenever it happens.’

Mr Holden also gave a strong hint of personal tax cuts in the March Budget. Asked about reports of inheritance tax being on the table, he said: ‘What you want is tax cuts which affect as many people as possible.’

He is optimistic that the costof-living crisis will start to ease. And as to whether there will be ‘green shoots’ of recovery before an Election, he is hopeful that people will be seeing ‘branches rather than shoots’.

The 38-year-old North West Durham MP recalled a recent conversation with one of his constituency staff: ‘Petrol’s down. The big Lurpak is cheaper than a few months ago. She’s noticed things are improving.’ He pointed as well to the National Insurance cut that will come into force within days: ‘This isn’t just about pledges of tax cuts. These are tax cuts which would have already impacted people’s pockets.’

Labour announced in 2021 that it will spend £28billion a year on boosting green-led growth. In recent months it has had to deny reports that it is considering watering down the flagship policy.

However, Mr Holden said the £28billion pledge ‘means it is impossible for [Sir Keir] to do anything on personal taxation except raising it significantly’.

Describing Labour’s commitment as a ‘growth bung which in the end has to be paid for’, Mr Holden added: ‘The only way it will be paid for is on the backs of the British people. And it is the equivalent to raising the basic rate of income tax from 20 to 25 per cent. And that would be a colossal impact.’

Labour said these claims are ‘total garbage and a desperately absurd claim from a Tory Party which has increased taxes on working people. All of our policies are built on the rock of responsibility and are subject to our iron-clad fiscal rules.’

Mr Holden, elected in 2019 as part of Boris Johnson’s landslide, said one of his best ever New Year’s Eves came a few weeks later: ‘There was a huge feeling of optimism in the country, and a huge feeling that real transformation was possible.’

And his hope for 2024? A fifth Tory term. ‘Because the threat of Starmer – a man who we do not know what he stands for – is just so great.’ He calls Sir Keir a ‘shapeshifter’: ‘You’ve got a man who wouldn’t stand up to Jeremy Corbyn, but took the knee for every Left-wing cause going.’

Meanwhile, Mr Holden’s hints at more tax cuts were confirmed last night in an upbeat New Year’s message from the Prime Minister. Having flagged up the National Insurance decrease (‘in six days’ time, we’ll deliver a tax cut for 27 million people, worth on average £450’), Rishi Sunak said that ‘we’re not stopping there. We’re going further to grow our economy by reducing debt, cutting taxes and rewarding hard work.’

‘Basic income tax rate will rise to 25 per cent’