Top Treasury official casts doubt on Rishi Sunak’s £2,000 tax claim
James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Treasury, said the figure "should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service".
A leading Treasury official has cast doubt on Rishi Sunak’s claim that British households will face a £2,000 tax bill if Labour wins the next election.
In Tuesday evening’s leadership debate, Sunak repeatedly claimed that “there are £2,000 worth of tax rises coming for every working family in this country,” a figure he said was produced by the “independent civil service”.
However, James Bowler, permanent secretary at the Treasury, said the figure “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”.
“I have reminded ministers and advisers that this should be the case,” he said in a letter to shadow Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones, first reported by the BBC.
The tax claims come from a Conservative election document assessing Labour’s spending plans. The document suggests that Labour are facing a £38bn blackhole which will have to be financed through increasing taxes.
Although the costings are completed by the Treasury, the framing assumptions are provided by political advisers. Bowler said the figure “includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service”.
The dossier was published back in May and attracted criticism at the time. Nick Macpherson, a former top Treasury official, said the figures had “little if any credibility” while James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said they “should not be used in public discourse“.
Keir Starmer was slow to deal with Sunak’s tax attack in last night’s debate, but did eventually describe it as “absolute garbage”.
“They put in pretend Labour policies to the Treasury and then they get a false readout,” he said.
Labour has stressed that a number of policies included in the costings are not actually Labour policies. This includes introducing regional improvement teams for schools or mental health workers in A&E suites.
Despite Bowler’s comments, the Conservatives have stood by the £2,000 figure. Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho repeated the claim on Wednesday, saying it was based on “official costings from the Treasury”.
Although this particular costing has been challenged by independent economists, many still argue that neither party is being honest about the challenges which will face the next government.
