Good afternoon. As the likelihood of a Labour victory on 4 July has hardened, questions about their plans in government have intensified. And although the party has presented a very cautious manifesto – offering, in Keir Starmer’s deathless phrase to the FT (£) today, “ordinary hope” – and boasted that it is fully costed and funded, there are good reasons to think that this is not the full story.
Labour says it will not raise VAT, income tax, or national insurance – but the Institute for Fiscal Studies and others accuse it of participating in a “conspiracy of silence” with the Conservative party over the choices on tax and spending that lie ahead. You needn’t be persuaded by Rishi Sunak’s dubious £2,000 tax bombshell claim to understand that the campaign trail quotes may not tell the full story.
