Rishi Sunak warns public not to give Keir Starmer a ‘blank cheque’ as PM says Labour leader could ‘rig electoral system’ to stay in power for ‘long time’
Rishi Sunak warned voters yesterday not to give Work a ‘blank check’ for the following month election.
The Prime Minister unveiled £17 billion in tax cuts and used his manifesto to create clear blue water with Sir Keir Starmer‘s party on what will become the central election battleground.
He said the Tories would reward Britain’s fighters with a further 2p cut on national insurance – and a promise to abolish self-employment tax altogether.
And he warned sharply about the dangers of a Labor government, arguing Sir Keir could manipulate the electoral system to stay in power for a “very long time”.
The Prime Minister said he was “not blind to the fact that people are frustrated with our party and frustrated with me”, adding: “It has not been easy and we don’t have everything in order.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pictured during the BBC Panorama Leader Interviews on June 10
Unveiling £17 billion in tax cuts, the Prime Minister used his manifesto to create clear blue water with Sir Keir Starmer’s party in what will become the central election battleground (Stock Image)
He said the Tories would reward Britain’s fighters with a further 2p cut on national insurance – and a promise to abolish self-employment tax altogether. (Stock Image)
But he said the Tories were the only party with “big ideas to make our country a better place to live”.
He described Sir Keir’s offer as a ‘blank sheet of paper’ and said Labor was offering ‘no solutions to our problems’. Mr Sunak warned those considering protest votes for reform, or the Liberal Democrats, that this would ‘allow Labor to do whatever they want to our country’.
He added: ‘Don’t forget Keir Starmer asking you to hand him a blank check when he hasn’t said what he’s going to buy with it or how much it’s going to cost you.
‘Just think about what Labor would mean. Higher taxes for every working household… French labor laws that will lead to higher unemployment and more strikes. A growing welfare law. Higher immigration and more Net Zero costs.
‘[I will] fight very hard until the last day of this election campaign to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The Prime Minister accused Sir Keir of planning to lower the voting age to 16 in a bid to ‘make it harder to remove him from power’. He added: ‘If Labor wins this time they will change the rules so they stay in power for a very long time.’
Speaking at the manifesto launch at Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, he added: ‘If you don’t know what Labor are going to do, don’t vote for it.
‘If you’re worried about what Starmer isn’t telling you, don’t vote for him. And if you’re worried about what Labour’s £2,094 tax rises would mean for your family’s financial security, don’t vote for it.’
Mr Sunak warned those considering protest votes for reform, or the Liberal Democrats, that this would ‘allow Labor to do whatever they want to our country’.
The Prime Minister accused Sir Keir of planning to lower the voting age to 16 in a bid to ‘make it harder to remove him from power’
The warning came as:
- Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to rule out an increase in fuel duty and capital gains tax;
- The Tory manifesto promised to ‘halve’ immigration and then reduce it further ‘every year’;
- The Prime Minister promised that deportation flights to Rwanda would begin within days of a Tory victory, potentially sending tens of thousands of Channel migrants to Africa;
- A poll by Lord Ashcroft found that support for reform has risen by four points since Nigel Farage returned as leader last week;
- Politicians condemned a protester in Barnsley who threw objects at Farage as he toured the South Yorkshire town in an open-top bus;
- Mr Sunak confirmed plans to increase defense spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030;
- The Prime Minister said the triple pension scheme would remain in place for the whole of the next parliament – and said the Tories would never tax the basic state pension;
- The Tories pledged to build 1.6 million new homes in five years by accelerating planning and cutting remaining red tape in the EU;
- The 80-page manifesto includes plans for migrants to undergo health checks before traveling to Britain to prevent them becoming a burden on the NHS;
- Sir Keir prepared to publish his own manifesto tomorrow as the second half of the campaign gets underway.
Yesterday’s manifesto was one of the last major opportunities for Sunak to revive the ailing Tory fortunes in the campaign.
The blueprint focused heavily on lowering taxes for working people. Ministers have already reduced the basic rate of national insurance by 4 cents since November, to just 8 percent.
Under the new pledge, a further 2p would be cut by 2027, bringing the total NI cut for the average worker to more than £1,300 a year.
Sir Keir prepared to publish his own manifesto tomorrow as the second half of the campaign gets underway
Yesterday’s manifesto was one of the last big opportunities for Mr Sunak to revive ailing Tory fortunes in the campaign
The Prime Minister pledged to go further for the four million people who are self-employed by abolishing NI’s basic rate by the end of the next parliament.
He said self-employed people “embody the most conservative values: the desire to build something, to create wealth and opportunity. We need to make sure it’s worth taking that risk. And that means their taxes have to go down.”
The manifesto includes tax cuts totaling £17.2 billion, funded by a £12 billion crackdown on welfare and £6 billion raised from clamping down on tax avoidance.
Mr Sunak said the measures will ensure Britain’s record tax burden will be lower than planned by around 1 per cent a year. But he refused to guarantee that the overall tax burden would be lower given the continued need to pay off the massive debts incurred during the coronavirus and energy crises.
Labor described the Tory plans as ‘the most expensive panic attack in history’ and said they would drive up borrowing, interest rates and mortgage costs.
