'You name it, Labour will tax it': UK PM Sunak attacks main rival as he languishes in election polls

LONDON — Taxes emerged as a key battleground in the first live televised debate of the U.K. election race, as party leaders addressed public concern over the cost-of-living crisis.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, leader of the incumbent Conservative Party which is trailing in the polls, said the opposition Labour Party's policies would amount to a £2,000 ($2,553.73) tax rise for "every working family," based on an analysis by independent Treasury officials.

"I'm clear that I'm going to keep cutting people's taxes as we now are ... Mark my words, Labour will raise your taxes, it's in their DNA. Your work, your car, your pension. You name it, Labour will tax it," Sunak said.

He repeated a new Conservative pledge to raise the U.K.'s tax-free pension allowance through a "triple lock" program.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said the £2,000 calculation was "based on made-up Labour policies."

Starmer said that his party would only offer "fully costed" policies, and would raise funds by changing carried interest tax rules on private equity, fulfilling the closure of the so-called "non-dom" tax regime, ending tax breaks on independent schools and increasing the windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

Starmer accused the Conservatives of damaging public finances during the 2022 premiership of Liz Truss, who lasted just 45 days as prime minister before resigning after a series of shock fiscal announcements jolted financial markets and threatened to destabilize British pension funds.

He also said the Conservatives had overseen a rise in taxes to a 70-year high.

When asked by debate moderator Julie Etchingham of ITV News, both leaders said they would not raise income tax or national insurance — a general taxation — during the next parliament.

Sunak