Labour manifesto latest: Keir Starmer announces £8.6 billion in tax rises

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said Labour’s manifesto had provided “no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come” to deliver the change the party is promising.

Paul Johnson, the director of the think tank, said: “This is a manifesto that promises a dizzying number of reviews and strategies to tackle some of the challenges facing the country. 

“That is better than a shopping list of half-baked policy announcements. But delivering genuine change will almost certainly also require putting actual resources on the table. 

“And Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this.”

The protester who disrupted Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto launch said all Labour is offering on tackling climate change is “warm words and tinkering around the edges”.

The Green New Deal Rising campaign group named the activist as 27-year-old Alice, who said in a statement: “I disrupted the Labour Party’s manifesto launch today because I feel so betrayed and disappointed by what the Labour Party is offering at this election…

“The next parliament really is our last chance to put in place the kind of policies that will make a real difference to stopping catastrophic climate change and making people’s quality of life better. But all Labour is offering is warm words and tinkering around the edges.”

The Social Market Foundation think tank labelled Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour blueprint a “Ming Vase manifesto”. 

Theo Bertram, the director of the SMF, said there was “little detail” and “no fireworks” in the document. 

He said: “The Ming Vase manifesto: change but with caution; great determination, little detail. “There are no fireworks, no surprises, no great adventure but plenty of policies that Labour has already announced. 

“It’s not fair to say it is without ambition or new ideas but it is light on detail. If the polls are right, Labour will enter Downing St on July 5 with a huge majority in favour of a clear mandate for change that is significantly undefined.”

The Countryside Alliance accused Labour of an “unjustified and divisive attack” on rural communities after the party pledged in its manifesto to ban trail hunting. 

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the organisation, said: “ Labour can’t ban trail hunting and then claim that it respects the countryside.

“Trail hunting is exactly what they told hunts to do 20 years ago and now they are saying that they want to ban that, too. This is an unjustified and divisive attack on the rural community and one which is out of step with the public’s priorities for the countryside.

“If Labour was truly interested in animal welfare and the effectiveness of the law it would have committed to review the Hunting Act. Instead it is pledging further pointless legislation that will waste hours of parliamentary time and criminalise people for a totally benign activity. It’s not ‘change’ to use the countryside as a political football again”.

Labour claims trail hunting is being used as a “smokescreen” for illegal fox hunting. Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales under the last Labour government in 2005, but trail hunting, in which hounds follow a scented cloth, remained legal.

Labour has been criticised for setting out just one year’s worth of costs for its policies - despite Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly insisting all his plans would be “fully costed”.

The party’s manifesto only provides a breakdown of the revenues it would raise and the amount of money it would spend for 2028-29 - set to be the last year of its first term.

Conservative officials said the lack of detailed figures for the first four years of Labour’s time in power showed that its plan for the country was “totally unserious”.

You can read the full story here. 

Rishi Sunak said Labour’s manifesto would result in the “highest taxes in history”. 

The Prime Minister, who is in Italy to attend a G7 summit, responded to Labour’s launch event by tweeting: 

The TaxPayers’ Alliance said voters hoping for tax cuts will have been left “bitterly disappointed” by the Labour manifesto. 

John O’Connell, chief executive of the campaign group, said: “Taxpayers hoping for change from an ever-rising tax burden will be bitterly disappointed by a Labour manifesto that may rule out major tax rises, but leaves the door open to alternative ways of tapping up workers, families and businesses.

“With substantial spending commitments to pay for, a Keir Starmer government will inevitably be looking to find ways to dip deeper and deeper into the pockets of Brits, effectively guaranteeing years of further stagnation.

“No hikes to income tax, National Insurance, and VAT is good news but, as the current government has shown, there are plenty of other ways to raid household budgets.”

The GMB union said the Labour manifesto “offers a vision of hope for the UK”. 

Gary Smith, the GMB’s general secretary, said: “Labour’s manifesto offers a vision of hope for the UK after 14 years of disasters.

“The New Deal for Working People is a once in a generation chance to completely transform the lives of working people.

“Equal pay, new collective bargaining structures for care workers and school support staff, trade union access and simplifying union recognition will be life-changing for GMB members.

“Now is the time to make sure Labour wins the election and the legislation is delivered.”

• Immigration: Create a new Border Security Command to go after people smuggling gangs. Hire additional caseworkers to tackle the asylum backlog. Scrap the Rwanda plan. 
• Net migration: Labour “will reduce net migration”.
• Debt: Debt must be falling as a share of the economy by the fifth year of the next Parliament.
• Education: Introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
• Tax: No increase to National Insurance, income tax or VAT. Non-dom status will be abolished. Corporation tax will be capped at the current level of 25 per cent.
• Fiscal events: There will only be one major fiscal event a year.
• Housing: Build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
• Energy: Set up a new Great British Energy company to “cut bills for good”.
• Crime: Introduce a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to restore patrols in local communities.

Jeremy Hunt said Sir Keir Starmer had unveiled a “Tax Trap Manifesto”. 

Responding to the Labour manifesto launch, the Tory chancellor said: “This is Labour’s Tax Trap Manifesto which contains only tax rises and no tax cuts. Under Labour’s published plans, taxes will rise to levels never before seen in this country.

“But that’s only the tax rises they’re telling you about – it doesn’t include the £2,094 of tax rises they’ll need to fill their £38.5 billion unfunded spending commitments. 

“So what’s most important is not what’s in Labour’s manifesto, but it’s what they have kept out of it. They are refusing to rule out taxing your job, your home, your pension, your car, your business and they think they can get away with it without anyone holding them to account. Be under no illusion, from cradle to grave you will pay more taxes under Labour.”

Sir Keir Starmer revealed his wife, Victoria, would have preferred him to stay in his career as a lawyer. 

Asked what he would do in his first week as PM if he wins the election, Sir Keir said: “The first thing I would do is return politics to service, tpo service, to serve this country. I came into politics to serve.

“I had a career in the law before this. My wife rather thinks I should have stayed with it. But I changed because I wanted to serve my country.” 

Sir Keir Starmer was told that the Labour manifesto made clear that the party is fighting the election on a platform of tax rises. 

He said that the manifesto only included tax rises that the party had already set out. 

He said: “What you won’t see in this manifesto is any plan that requires tax rises over and above those that we have already set out because we have been very, very clear particularly in relation to working people, no increase in income tax, no increase in National Insurance, and no increase in VAT. 

“Absolutely clearly set out in this manifesto.” 

Sir Keir Starmer was asked what he would do if his plan to boost economic growth falls flat. 

He was asked which option he would choose - borrowing more, cutting spending or putting up taxes - if his sums do not add up. 

The Labour leader refused to engage with the premise of the question as he said: “This manifesto is a total rejection of that defeatist approach that the only levers are tax and spend.” 

The Labour manifesto pledges to reduce net migration - but it is not specific about any target. 

Sir Keir Starmer was asked what the pledge actually means but he would not be drawn as he answered questions in Manchester. 

He said that “we do need to have lower immigration” and claimed that the Tories had “lost control” of the nation’s borders. But he did not refer to a target or a more specific aim. 

Sir Keir Starmer said he was enjoying the general election campaign. 

Asked how confident he was of victory, the Labour leader said: “I don’t take anything for granted as we go to the final three weeks of this campaign. Yes, we are enjoying the campaign, I won’t deny that.” 

Sir Keir Starmer was grilled on his claim that economic growth would be sufficient to find extra money to protect public services. 

Asked how he would avoid making cuts to services and a return to austerity, he said: “We are not going to return to austerity. 

“I ran a public service for five years, the Crown Prosecution Service, I lived through austerity, I am never going to allow a Labour government to do that to our public services. Never.” 

Sir Keir Starmer denied that the Labour manifesto showed he was “Captain Caution”.

He was told that the manifesto contained “not a single new policy” that had not already been announced and it appeared to be a “Captain Caution manifesto designed to protect your poll lead”. 

But the Labour leader replied: “No. It is a serious plan for the future of our country and every single policy in this document, policy after policy after policy, has been carefully thought through and tested to ensure that we can deliver it.” 

He added: “I am running as a candidate to be prime minister, not a candidate to run the circus.”  

Sir Keir Starmer suggested that many parents across the country do not currently believe that the “future will be better for their children”. 

But the Labour leader insisted a government led by him “can build” that future. 

Concluding his speech in Manchester, Sir Keir said: “That is our plan and I invite you all to join our mission, to stop the chaos, turn the page and start to rebuild our country.” 

Sir Keir was given another standing ovation after he finished. The Labour leader will now take questions from the media.

The Labour manifesto only explicitly outlines their costs of their tax rises and spending promises for a single year: 2028/29. That would be their fifth year in office if they win, writes Ben Riley-Smith. 

The party justifies the approach by saying in the foreword before the costings pages that the final year will see costs at their highest. 

The manifesto says: “We have used the last year of the most recent Office for Budget Responsibility forecast (2028-29) which represents the highest annual cost of the policies.”

But it is a different approach to the Tories, who on Tuesday produced a manifesto with costings figures for each of the next five five years. 

A Tory source says: “Labour have have not laid out tax and spending plans for the next five years, only showing one year, and that’s in four years time. Says nothing about the next three years. This is totally unserious.”

Sir Keir Starmer said that if he can deliver economic growth at “anything like the rate of the last Labour government” there will be tens of billions of pounds of extra money to invest in public services. 

He said Labour has a “plan for growth, we are pro-business and pro-worker, the party of wealth creation”. 

Sir Keir Starmer suggested there would be no rabbits or unexpected surprises in the Labour manifesto. 

The Labour leader took a swipe at Nigel Farage, telling activists in Manchester: “If you want politics as pantomime I hear Clacton is nice this time of year.” 

Sir Keir Starmer said that all of Labour’s policy plans have been fully costed and the party knows how it will pay for them. 

He said that was “non-negotiable” because “you cannot play fast and loose with the public finances”. 

The Labour leader then pledged no increases to income tax, National Insurance and VAT. 

“That is a manifesto commitment,” he said. 

Sir Keir Starmer argued that “Britain has lost its balance” and “opportunity is not spread evenly enough” across the country.

He said a Labour government would seek to boost prosperity across the board and “turn the page” on some communities being left behind “forever”. 

Sir Keir said Labour was offering voters a “total change of direction”.  

There is no “magic wand” to solve the UK’s problems, the Labour leader said. 

But Sir Keir Starmer said the party’s manifesto represented a “credible, long term plan” to improve things. 

He insisted the blueprint was “much more than a list of policies” but actually a “plan for change”. 

Sir Keir Starmer said that everywhere he goes in the UK he sees “potential, held back”. 

The Labour leader said many people cannot afford a mortgage to achieve their dream of home ownership. He then referred to a visit to a children’s hospital where he was told that the commonest cause for admissions for young children was tooth decay. 

He set out an alternate reality of more affordable homes and better healthcare with a “Labour government on their side”. 

A protester attempted to disrupt Sir Keir Starmer’s speech in Manchester.

They shouted that Labour was offering “the same old Tory policies”. 

But Sir Keir said: “We gave up on being a party of protest five years ago. We want to be a party of power.”

Sir Keir Starmer is now on stage in Manchester. 

The Labour leader was given a standing ovation and a lengthy round of applause before he started speaking.  

Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto features a large black and white image of Sir Keir Starmer on the front cover, along with just one word: “Change.”

The manifesto will inevitably draw comparisons to the party’s offering in 1997 which featured a large picture of Sir Tony Blair:

Meanwhile, it has been swiftly pointed out that the new manifesto includes a picture of Sir Keir Starmer meeting Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, at D-Day commemorations last week - the commemorations that Rishi Sunak left early.

Taxes will rise by £8.6 billion under a Labour government, with raids on private schools, overseas property investors and non-doms. 

The party’s manifesto says that its planned tax rises will raise a combined £8.6bn by 2028-29, with the money used to pay for more NHS appointments and teachers.

Richard Walker, the CEO of Iceland, is now on stage at Labour’s manifesto launch in Manchester. 

He said that under the Tories there had been “endless infighting and broken promises”. 

He said: “The Tories are out of ideas. Only Labour can change this country’s trajectory of dismal economic proformance.”

Mr Walker previously backed the Conservative Party but switched his allegiance to Labour in January of this year.

Angela Rayner said that “when we deliver growth it will be in every corner of the country”. 

She said Labour’s manifesto will deliver “change worth having and change worth voting for”. 

Labour’s deputy leader said voters had a chance to “end the chaos, to turn the page and to start a new chapter” on July 4.  

Angela Rayner is introducing Sir Keir Starmer at Labour’s manifesto launch in Manchester. 

The Labour deputy leader said that the nation is “crying out for change after 14 years of chaos” under the Conservative Party. 

Ms Rayner said that you “can’t tax your way to growth” as she vowed to “get Britain building”.  

Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have now arrived. 

Activists gave the Labour leader and his deputy a standing ovation. 

Labour’s shadow cabinet is now taking its seats at the party’s manifesto launch in Manchester. 

Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting and Yvette Cooper were all sat on the front row. 

A group of photographers is now huddled on the floor in front of the lectern in Manchester as we wait for Sir Keir Starmer to take to the stage. 

Sir Keir Starmer is about to enter what could be the riskiest 30 minutes of the whole general election campaign. 

The Labour Party continues to ride high in the opinion polls, consistently 20 or so points ahead of the Tories. 

But with his manifesto launch, starting at 11am, he is approaching a moment of maximum danger. 

A smooth launch will leave Labour in pole position ahead of July 4 and leave the Tories staring down the barrel. 

But Labour figures will know that anything can happen in politics and should a major policy unravel or if Sir Keir should suffer an unexpected slip up, things could move from smooth sailing to stormy seas in a flash. 

A Labour candidate is in the process of going viral on social media after tweeting a video of her singing a 2024 general election version of an early-2000s UK garage hit. 

Dawn Butler, who is seeking reelection in Brent East, changed the lyrics to So Solid Crew’s 2001 song “21 Seconds” to “21 days to go”. 

As of 10.40am the video on Twitter had been viewed more than 132,000 times: 

Labour has published a new social media campaign video urging people to vote for “change” on July 4. 

The video states: “To get back economic growth. To get back opportunity. To get back hope. End the chaos. Turn the page. Rebuild Britain. Vote Labour on Thursday 4 July.”  

We are now just over 35 minutes away from the launch of Labour’s general election manifesto. 

Sir Keir Starmer is due to take to the stage in Manchester at 11am. 

Lord Cameron has refused to say what his next moves would be if the Tories lose the general election.

Asked what he will do if the Conservatives lose the election, the Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “If my mother had wheels she’d be a bicycle, I don’t answer questions beginning with the word if.”

Lord Cameron said Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary made a “clearly very foolish decision” when he placed a £100 bet on a July election three days before it was announced.

Craig Williams, who is seeking re-election in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, has confirmed he is under investigation by the gambling watchdog after he “put a flutter” on a July poll.

Asked what situation Mr Williams was now in, the Foreign Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “His situation, having made this clearly very foolish decision, is that he is being investigated by the Gambling Commission and they have considerable powers in terms of what the consequences could be.

“I think we have to let that investigation take place and so I can’t really comment any further on it.”

Nigel Farage said the “penny is beginning to drop” on the impact of mass migration on the UK. 

The Reform UK leader also took aim at the Tories and Labour and said neither party could be trusted to bring net migration down. 

He told LBC: “If you’ve got net migration running at three quarters of a million a year, it’s not surprising the size of the economy grows. 

“But the income per head has fallen for the last six consecutive quarters. The penny is beginning to drop. Mass migration is making us poorer. Mass migration means our kids and grandkids can’t get houses. 

“Mass migration means rents are up between 20 and 30 per cent in the last three years alone in this country.” 

He added: “This is now the fifth manifesto in a row from the Conservatives that has promised they will reduce net migration. No one believes them. And Labour have almost nothing to say.”

Rishi Sunak was “totally in command” during last night’s The Battle For No 10 programme, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said.

Speaking to Sky News, the former prime minister said: “You see it in Cabinet, he is absolutely at the top of his game.”

He added: “I saw someone who was totally in command of the detail, of the brief.”

Lord Cameron said Mr Sunak is “always the best briefed person in the room” during Cabinet meetings.

Lord Cameron has defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave D-Day events early and said it is time to move on.

The former prime minister told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “Prime ministers have to make lots of difficult decisions about when to go to things, and when to leave things, and who to see and all the rest of it.

“And to be fair to Rishi, he went to the key event in Portsmouth with all of the D-Day veterans in the UK, and then he went to the key event above the British Normandy beaches, that was again a beautiful event and he met lots of veterans there.

“Then he left to go back to the UK and then immediately said he had made a mistake and he had wished he had stayed, and I think we should leave it there. Because that’s the sort of guy he is, he made a mistake, instead of digging in and defending it, he said: ‘actually, no, no, I got that one wrong I should’ve stayed’.”

Lord Cameron said it was “time to move on to the substance” and pointed to the Government’s track record of supporting veterans.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that he uses a private dentist, despite previously insisting he would not use any private healthcare.

The Labour leader said during an election debate on Sky News on Wednesday night that he uses a private dentist because he is not eligible for NHS care.

His comment came after he used a previous TV debate to say that he would not use private healthcare even if a relative were stuck on an NHS waiting list.

You can read the full story here. 

My colleague Ben Riley-Smith is on his way to Manchester to attend the Labour manifesto launch. He sent across the following update: 

Hello from the 7.33am train from London to Manchester which is zooming towards the location of Labour’s election manifesto launch. 

The political watchword for the document is expected to be “reassurance” - an attempt to sooth Middle England and make clear Sir Keir Starmer’s “changed Labour Party” can be trusted with the country’s purse and defence. 

The manifesto is understood to be around 23,000 words long, which is shorter than Jeremy Corbyn’s pitch in the 2019 general election. That makes it some 125 pages long. 

We are also told there are no fewer than 34 photographs of Sir Keir inside the booklet, so the Labour leader is being put front and centre of the party’s re-election pitch. 

Will there be surprises? The message from Labour HQ is no, and certainly not on tax changes. The vast majority of what is contained in the manifesto is expected to be already known. 

The political situation explains why. When you are 20-plus percentage points ahead in an election campaign which ends in three weeks, the last thing you want to do is upset the apple cart.

Pat McFadden refused to be drawn on whether there will be any specific tax cuts included in the Labour manifesto. 

Labour’s national campaign coordinator told the BBC: “Tax cuts have to be sustainable and affordable. That’s a lesson we should have learned two years ago when Liz Truss crashed the economy. 

“Rishi Sunak was supposed to be the antidote to Liz Truss. He’s turned out to be the latest instalment of the same fantasy economics that leads to chaos. 

“And where that ends up is you don’t get the tax cuts, but you do get the mortgage rises. And that is exactly the recipe that they are offering. We are not going to make that mistake.” 

Andrew Neil has called out Sir Keir Starmer for claiming his family did not have Sky TV when he was a child – because the service launched when he was 27 years old.

The Labour leader said he “certainly” did not have the paid-for channel after Rishi Sunak said it was one of the things he had to go without growing up.

Neil, a broadcaster who was the founding chairman of Sky TV, criticised Sir Keir, 61, for the remarks, saying: “I launched Sky TV in 1989, by which time Starmer was 27 – so obviously he didn’t have Sky growing up. Nobody his age did since it didn’t exist.”

You can read the full story here. 

Pat McFadden failed to rule out a Labour government making changes to council tax in the future as the party prepares to unveil its manifesto later this morning. 

Labour’s national campaign coordinator was asked repeatedly during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if the party could opt to recalculate council tax bands. 

He said: “There is nothing in the manifesto that we publish today that requires any change in tax rates beyond what we have already announced.” 

Asked again on whether Labour could recalculate council tax bands, Mr McFadden said: “There is nothing in our plans that requires a change in that or other taxes.”  

Nigel Farage said he would be willing to lead a merged Reform-Conservative party. 

The Reform leader said he could not lead the Tory party as it “currently is” but predicted a new party is likely to emerge after the general election. 

Asked if he could rule out one day leading the Conservative Party, Mr Farage told LBC this morning: “I think something new is going to emerge on the centre right, I don’t know what it is called. 

“But do I think I am capable of leading a national opposition to a Labour Party with a big majority where I can stand up and hold them to account on issues? Yes.” 

Asked if he would be happy to lead a merged party, he replied: “Yes.” 

He added: “They [the Tories] may be dead. They may well be dead. This may well be the end of their journey. I would be prepared to lead the centre right in this country.”

Nigel Farage said he believed Reform UK is “very close to a tipping point” when it will overtake the Conservative Party in the opinion polls. 

A recent YouGov poll put the Tories just one point ahead of Reform. 

Mr Farage claimed the “election is over, Labour has won” and the question now is about who will lead the opposition in the House of Commons to Sir Keir Starmer. 

The Reform leader told LBC he believed the “Conservatives will be incapable” of providing that opposition because they “hate each other” and he would be best placed to take on Labour. 

Lord Cameron said he does not “feel sorry” for Rishi Sunak.

The former prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What I feel about Rishi Sunak is that he’s a very capable Prime Minister.

“I don’t feel sorry for him because he’s a very effective Prime Minister who wants to go on doing his job.”

Lord Cameron also admitted the polls don’t “look good” for the Conservatives, but added “they didn’t look very good in 2015 when I won the election”.

High levels of immigration are due to a lack of welfare reform, Lord Cameron suggested. 

The Foreign Secretary told Times Radio: “The biggest thing that we need to get right, and the biggest cause of this increase in migration, is the fact that so many people decided to leave the workforce after Covid, we haven’t been effectively reforming welfare.

“Because ultimately we all want British businesses to be more productive, but ultimately if you lose a million workers from the workforce, they’re going to have to come from somewhere and that’s why I think we have seen such high levels of migration.

“Now in this election, as far as I can see, the Conservative Party has got a plan for reforming welfare, with back to work tests and all the rest of it, and Labour have got no plan for reforming welfare.”

The Conservative Party is focused on trying to win over Reform voters, not insult them, Lord Cameron said. 

The Foreign Secretary told Times Radio: “All the things Reform voters want, and I don’t want to insult them in any way, I want to win them over, because I think like me they want to see strong defences in an uncertain world, they want to see a secure border in a dangerous world, they want to see lower taxes in a world where families are struggling and need that extra help. 

“The things they want are things only a Conservative government can deliver and by voting Reform you make them less likely, not more likely.” 

Lord Cameron was asked if his heart had sunk when Nigel Farage announced his return. 

The Tory peer said: “I don’t think my heart did anything particularly. I am very focused on winning for the blue team.”

Lord Cameron refused to say whether he had warned Rishi Sunak against leaving D-Day commemorations in Normandy early. 

The Foreign Secretary stood in for the Prime Minister during a gathering of world leaders after the latter chose to return to the UK to do a general election interview last Thursday.

Asked if he had told Mr Sunak that he was making a mistake, Lord Cameron told Times Radio: “I am not going to get into my advice or my department’s advice to the Prime Minister. We are part of a team.” 

Lord Cameron insisted the Conservative Party can still win the general election on July 4 as he declared: “Anything is possible.” 

The Foreign Secretary said the 2015 contest when he led the Tories to an unexpected majority victory showed that anything can happen. 

He told Times Radio: “I remember fighting the election in 2015 and people said I didn’t have a chance and we were behind in the polls and we kept going and we had a clear plan, we had a strong team, and we came through and won the election. 

“So anything is possible. I always think during elections, time spent talking about opinion polls is just time completely wasted because you don’t know whether they are right, I don’t know whether they are right and we will find out in 21 days.” 

He added: “I believe anything can happen.”

Wes Streeting refused to rule out a capital gains tax increase if Labour win power. 

Asked if he could rule out a rise, the shadow health secretary told Times Radio: “It is true to say when people see our manifesto they will see that there is nothing in there that requires us to raise any of those taxes. 

“We are being really careful about the promises we make because the bar for getting into the manifesto has been a bar of is this something we can 100 per cent deliver and is this something we are sure the country can afford. 

“So we have been careful on that.” 

Wes Streeting accused the Tories of deploying a “cynical voter suppression tactic” after Grant Shapps warned against handing Labour a “super majority” on July 4. 

Asked if he believed Labour will secure a “super majority” victory, the shadow health secretary told Times Radio: “Grant Shapps isn’t remotely worried about a super majority. Grant Shapps is looking at the same opinion polls I am but he is also, no doubt, knocking on doors as well and finding the same thing as me which is there are millions of undecided voters in this country. 

“Not a single vote has been cast. The only way people will get change is if they vote for it on July 4. 

“I think what he did yesterday was a cynical voter suppression tactic to say to people who want the Tories out ‘oh, you don’t actually need to bother to do that because everyone else is doing that, you can either stay at home or vote for one of the smaller parties without consequence or keep your nice, friendly Conservative MP’.”

Sir Keir Starmer served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and campaigned for him to be prime minister in 2019 because he was trying to influence Labour “from within”, Wes Streeting said. 

Sir Keir has faced scrutiny during the current election campaign over his past backing for Mr Corbyn and he has attempted to distance himself from his time under the former Labour leader. 

Mr Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said Sir Keir and others had worked under Mr Corbyn as they tried to figure out “how best to try and salvage the Labour Party”. 

He said Sir Keir had wanted to “influence from within as best as possible to stop the Labour Party going completely off a cliff”.

Sir Keir Starmer is not in the “entertainment business”, a senior Labour figure said this morning as he countered claims that the party’s leader lacked charisma. 

It was suggested to Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, that Sir Keir was “Blair without the flair”. 

He replied: “A sober, serious leader is exactly what the country needs right now. I don’t think he is trying to be in the entertainment business. 

“He is trying to be a sober, serious leader and that is what he will be if he is elected on July 4.”

Pat McFadden said Labour’s manifesto will be a “plan to change the country” and it will be “responsible” and “costed”. 

Labour’s national campaign coordinator said a plan for economic growth had been the “missing piece in this election debate so far”. 

It will be “at the heart of the manifesto we are publishing this morning”, he told GB News this morning. 

Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, will represent the Conservative Party on the morning media round today. 

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, will be banging the drum for Labour ahead of its manifesto launch.  

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is scheduled to be taking part in a phone-in on LBC at 8am. 

 Labour’s manifesto launch will dominate the general election campaign today as Sir Keir Starmer unveils his blueprint for Britain at an event in Manchester this morning.

The Labour leader has promised voters there will be “no tax surprises” in the document, with the party expected to pledge no increases in income tax, National Insurance, VAT and corporation tax.

However, it is not expected to rule out future rises in other levies like capital gains tax and the Tories will be ready to pounce on any ambiguity.

Rishi Sunak is taking a break from campaigning as he attends a G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, where he is set to announce new funding for war-torn Ukraine.

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, will be campaigning in Kent while Plaid Cymru will launch its manifesto in Cardiff.

ITV will then host a seven-way debate this evening from 8.30pm, featuring representatives from the seven main parties.

The representatives will be Penny Mordaunt for the Conservatives, Angela Rayner for Labour, Daisy Cooper for the Lib Dems, Stephen Flynn for the SNP, Nigel Farage for Reform UK, Carla Denyer for the Green Party and Rhun ap Iorwerth for Plaid Cymru.

Labour’s election manifesto will not rule out increases in council tax, fuel duty and capital gains tax, Sir Keir Starmer admitted last night.

The Labour leader repeatedly declined to rule out tax rises if he became prime minister after the general election, during a Sky News election programme.

During the interview with Beth Rigby, Sir Keir was repeatedly asked to explicitly promise that there would be “no tax rises” if he won the general election on July 4. The Labour leader declined to do so.

Instead, he promised “no tax rises for working people”, leaving open the possibility of increasing taxes on wealth.

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Labour is not “being honest” about its tax plans, the Tories claimed today as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to unveil his party’s manifesto at an event in Manchester later this morning.

Richard Holden, the chairman of the Conservative Party, claimed Labour is “refusing to say what they would really do because they know it would lose them votes”. 

He repeated a disputed Tory claim that Labour would have to put up taxes by more than £2,000 to pay for its policies and said: “Labour aren’t being honest with the public; they are refusing to say what they would really do because they know it would lose them votes.

“Labour will tax your family home, tax your pension, tax your job and tax your car and drag pensioners into the retirement tax. 

“Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are asking for a blank cheque and it’s becoming clear what he wants to do with it - put up your taxes.”