Rishi Sunak says furious election tax row shows ‘desperate’ Keir Starmer is ‘very rattled’ as PM doubles down on claim Labour will cost Brits extra £2,000

Rishi Sunak has claimed a raging election row over tax shows, sir Keir Starmer is ‘apparently very confused’.

The Prime Minister accused Labor of doing “some pretty desperate things” after they said he “lied” about their party’s budget plans.

In Tuesday night’s first TV debate between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir, the Prime Minister repeatedly referred to an analysis showing Labor would increase taxes by £2,094 per household.

His comments angered senior Labor figures as they hit out at the Prime Minister’s ‘lies’.

But Mr Sunak doubled down on the claims in a new one ITV interview, as he has denied the claims Tory attack was based on ‘dubious’ figures.

Speaking to ITV’s Tonight, which he filmed after leaving D-Day commemorations early on Thursday, Sunak denied he was willing to lie to stay in power.

Speaking to ITV’s Tonight, which he filmed after leaving D-Day commemorations early on Thursday, Rishi Sunak denied he was willing to lie to stay in power.

In Tuesday night’s first TV debate between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir, the Prime Minister repeatedly referred to an analysis showing Labor would increase taxes by £2,094 per household.

Asked about Labor branding him a “liar” over the tax row, the Prime Minister said: “Yes, I think it’s quite desperate stuff.

‘And Keir Starmer and the Labor Party are clearly very upset that we have revealed their plans to increase taxes on people.

“And that’s it, that’s what it shows.”

Asked about the accuracy of the Tory analysis of Labour’s plans and whether he thought the £2,094 figure was a ‘dubious’ claim, Mr Sunak said: ‘No, I don’t.

“I think people know I’m over the details when it comes to numbers.

‘The Chancellor gave a press conference on this subject almost a month ago, where he explained all the workings behind what we said.

“And I’m happy with it.”

During Tuesday night’s debate, Sunak claimed that ‘independent officials from the Treasury’ have cost Labor’s policies ‘and this amounts to a £2,000 increase for everyone’.

But it later emerged that Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler said ministers had been told not to suggest civil servants produced the figure.

Some of the estimates in the document were conducted by Treasury Department officials, using assumptions made by politically appointed special advisers.

Mr Bowler said the headline figure used by the Tories should not be attributed to impartial civil servants.

But Mr Sunak stressed that ‘the analysis and work is being done by Treasury officials’.

He told ITV: ‘I can tell you exactly, I’d be happy to go through it with you. There are 27 different policies included in this number; 21 of these have been independently budgeted by Ministry of Finance officials.

“They’re all online and people can find them. Two of these come directly from the Labor Party, three from other government sources.

‘And one of them is from an independent investment bank. That’s where all the effects come from.’

The Prime Minister added: “It’s all transparent. It’s all online.’

In a letter to Labour’s shadow treasury chief Darren Jones, Bowler said the £38.5bn total for Labor policies in the Tory document includes ‘costs beyond those of the civil service’.

“Costs derived from other sources or produced by other organizations should not be presented as if they were produced by the civil service,” he said in a letter to Mr Jones on June 3.

“I have reminded ministers and advisers that this must be the case.”