LABOUR yesterday stoked tax rise fears after admitting their election spending plans were just the beginning.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the extra billions promised in the party’s manifesto were not the “sum total” of what to expect, and refused to rule out council tax increases.
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And Labour campaign supremo Morgan McSweeney appeared to endorse a £15billion capital gains raid.
Tory Treasury Minister Laura Trott told The Sun last night: “Labour think they can hide these secret tax rises until after the election, but we won’t let them get away with it. Keir Starmer should come clean.”
Sir Keir’s manifesto last week confirmed £8.5billion of taxes on private schools, non-doms and oil and gas giants to fund pledges mainly on the NHS and education.
But responding to criticism from think tank the Nuffield Trust that the manifesto did not go far enough, Mr Streeting said it was not the “grand sum total” of spending plans.
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He told Sky TV: “That is not the way election campaigns work. Where Labour is making the fundamental argument is that we’ve got to get the economy back to growth.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper pounced on the comments, saying: “He’s let the cat out of the bag a bit. He confirmed there are more spending promises to come and that can mean only one thing — more taxes.”
Despite a weekend survey putting the Tories on course for as little as 72 seats, Mr Harper said PM Rishi Sunak was “still fighting for every vote” and insisted many people were still undecided.
The Survation MRP poll put Labour on 456 seats, the Lib Dems on 56 and Reform on seven.
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Meanwhile, Mr McSweeney set hares running by “liking” a LinkedIn post advocating the idea of a £15billion grab on assets.
A Labour MP’s staffer had said it would be “wise politically” for Sir Keir to raise capital gains tax, which is levied on assets such as second homes and shares that gain value.
Labour looks set to freeze fuel duty as Wes Streeting hints at support of The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign
After calls by journalists, Mr McSweeney hastily removed the like and is understood to have told colleagues it was accidental.
It came as Mr Streeting also did not rule out letting town halls increase council tax to plug budget gaps.
He told the BBC: “We don’t want to see the tax burden on working people increase. I know the Conservatives have baked into their plans council tax rises, that’s in the Government’s spending forecast.
“What Rachel Reeves is going to work to do is to get growth back into our economy so we can invest in our public services and ease the tax burden on people.”
Shadow Chancellor Ms Reeves will today vow to create 650,000 industrial jobs through a National Wealth Fund backed by £7.3billion of public money.
It includes £2.5billion for the steel industry and billions in green spending.
But the Tories said Sir Keir would rip a £4.5billion black hole in public finances by ending North Sea oil and gas drilling.
Party analysis also claimed a pause on licences risked 200,000 jobs and higher bills.
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Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “Labour’s energy policy will be a triple whammy: jobs lost, higher taxes and investment destroyed.”
Questions remain over Labour’s plans for fuel duty though Mr Streeting has all but said it would remain frozen.
Love for his wife ‘grows each day’
SIR Keir has lavished praise on his wife, Victoria, saying: “She makes me complete.”
The Labour leader said he hated being apart from her and their two children.
He told a magazine: “It sounds naff but we’re made for each other. If anything our love gets stronger every day. She’s gorgeous, sassy, grounded.”
He added that he wanted a normal life for his family if he became PM, including Victoria continuing her shopping trips in North West London.
The couple, who fiercely protect their teenage children’s privacy and have not publicly named them, met when he was a human rights barrister and she a solicitor.
