Tories ramp up £2,000 tax blast but Labour lashes 'lies'

Martin Lewis pushes Energy Secretary to apologise live on TV over claims that families will have to pay much more

- Nicholas Cecil

RISHI SUNAK and Sir Keir Starmer were at the centre of a furious row today over a disputed Tory claim that households would be hit with a £2,000 tax hike if Labour wins power.

The Tories this morning ramped up this tax attack on Labour after the first TV debate showdown between Mr Sunak and Sir Keir last night.

The Prime Minister was widely seen as having landed a blow on the Labour leader in the tax row after the latter took a while to strongly refute it.

But by this morning the spotlight was shifting onto the truth, or not, of the Prime Minister's central line of attack in the ITV debate showdown.

Labour put out a letter from the Treasury's top civil servant, James Bowler, revealing that ministers had been warned that any "costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service".

The figures for the Tories' dossier alleging a £38 billion tax hit on the country from a Labour government were, at least partially, based on calculations done by Treasury civil servants, though this is understood to have been at the request of Tory special advisers.