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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique

General election 2017: Theresa May refuses to rule out tax increases – as it happened

‘Voters deserve no soundbites,’ Marr tells May

Summary

Thanks for following the blog today. Here is a summary of the day’s main developments:

  • Theresa May has refused to rule out income tax and national insurance rises should she win the general election. The prime minister said she would not raise VAT, after Labour made a similar pledge but declined to make a similar pledge in respect of the other two taxes which make up the Conservative’s tax lock.
  • In her first television interviews of the campaign, the prime minister also signalled she would ditch the“triple-lock” formula by which the state pension would increase each year.
  • The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said it would be wrong of May to drop the triple-lock formula on pensions. There were also suggestions that she was bounced into the pledge on VAT on Peston on Sunday after McDonnell vowed not to increase the tax, earlier on the same programme.
  • McDonnell said that Labour would not increase income tax for middle or low earners. He did not define middle earners.
  • The Royal College of Nursing criticised the prime minister for failing to address the issue of nurses’ pay and their use of foodbanks. When asked about the issue on BBC1’s Andrew Marr show, she replied that “there are many complex reasons why people go to food banks”.
  • Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested he is prepared to reverse £3bn cuts of primary school funding, due to impact between now and 2020.
  • The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, said May was on course for a “colossal coronation” and urged voters to make his party the official opposition in order to prevent a hard Brexit. The Lib Dems currently have just nine MPs compared to Labour’s 229.

Summary

Alex Salmond denied that he was putting forward a different message about second independence referendum in Scotland than First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme today.
Last week, the First Minister said the election was “not about
independence or about another referendum”.

During his weekly radio programme, Salmond told a listener that there would be another vote on Scotland’s future within five years, saying:

The general election is to reinforce the right of the Scottish Parliament to decide when the time is right for another independence referendum and if you get that sort of overwhelming vote for the SNP, then the PM’s opposition will crumble.

Asked by Andrew Neil on the BBC”s Sunday Politics programme if there
was a different message being put by himself and Sturgeon, Salmond
replied:

No. I have said exactly the same as Nicola Sturgeon on that. The issue of independence will be decided in a national referendum of the Scottish people. The mandate for that referendum was gained in last year’s Scottish elections. What this election is about is backing the right of the Scottish Parliament to exercise that mandate and also providing real opposition to this Tory government and of course allowing the Scottish Parliament to resist austerity and some of the public expenditure cutbacks that you’ve been talking about. That is what this election is about: backing our Scottish Parliament.”


Commenting on the interview, Scottish Labour General Election campaign
manager James Kelly said:

Alex Salmond’s car crash interview exposed the reality of the SNP’s record in government ...

Alex Salmond let the cat out the bag last week when he said this election is about forcing another divisive independence referendum.

When people go to the polls for the council elections on Thursday and the general election on 8 June they can vote Labour to elect a local champion; or they can vote SNP to elect a candidate who will only focus on another divisive referendum.

Meanwhile a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times Scotland found that 52% of voters believed the PM should not stand in the way of a fresh referendum if the First Minister made a manifesto commitment to try to secure one and won a majority of the Scottish seats. It placed support for independence at 45%, unchanged from the 2014 referendum.

The survey found 41% favoured independence for Scotland inside the EU
while 10% supported Scottish independence outside the EU; 48% said
they would prefer Scotland to remain inside the UK but outside the EU.
The SNP won a landslide in Scotland In 2015, winning 56 out of 59
seats. Opinion polls have suggested the Tories will gain a number of
seats from the Nationalists but the SNP are still expected to be the
majority party.

Updated

In Scotland, Labour have announced all their candidates for the 2017
general election, with a 50:50 gender balance.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said:

I’m delighted to unveil our list of candidates for the general election, and as a co-founder of Women 50:50 I’m thrilled we have achieved gender balance.

Women are under-represented at almost every level of power in Scotland and by locking out that experience and talent we are putting limits on our nation’s potential.

Meanwhile Labour are still making as much milage as they can from the
accusation that Theresa May was hiding from the electorate when she
gave her first Scottish speech of this general election campaign in a
tiny community hall in Banchory in Aberdeenshire, with such poor phone
reception that live coverage of the event was impossible.

Labour elections co-ordinator Ian Lavery has struggled to explain how the party would enforce its plans to introduce a maximum pay ratio for the public sector and companies bidding for government contracts, the Press Association reports.

Labour has committed to ensuring bosses in the public sector and private companies that carry out government work are not paid more than 20 times the wage of the firm’s lowest paid employee.

Lavery failed to give a direct answer when asked a number of times by Andrew Neil on BBC1’s Sunday Politics what would happen if a defence contractor like BAE Systems bids to build more Joint Strike Fighter jets for the RAF, and the boss was paid more than 20 times the lowest paid worker.

Lavery said:

We would look at the issue as it came along but the policy is quite clear.

Asked to name a defence contractor which has a boss with a salary that would fit with the ratio, he said:

We would introduce and we are introducing, we’ve rolled that out as part of this fantastic policy to transform society, to get rid of discrimination, to try and bring together our communities, and we will introduce a pay ratio of 1:20.

The Royal College of Nursing has attacked Theresa May’s responses to questioning on nursing pay and foodbanks on the Andrew Marr programme.

RCN chief executive and general secretary Janet Davies said:

Theresa May was explicitly asked to admit that it is wrong for nurses to be forced to use foodbanks in 2017. Not only did she fail to acknowledge it is wrong, she failed to even mention nurses or their work in her reply.

Nurses should not have to fund the NHS deficit from their own pay packets. Too many are struggling to make ends meet, turning to foodbanks and hardship grants in desperation.

Every year that the government holds NHS pay below inflation, hundreds of thousands of nurses get another real-terms cut to their salary.

“The government pay cap is fuelling a recruitment and retention crisis that is as damaging for patient care as it is for the nurses themselves. A growing number feel they can no longer afford to work in the profession and others are deterred from joining by the meagre pay on offer.

“After the election, for the sake of patient safety, the government must scrap the pay cap and fill the tens of thousands of vacant jobs.”

More from the head teachers conference where Jeremy Corbyn was addressing the audience and hinted at a significant pledge on primary school funding:

Since you’re here …

… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. You can give to the Guardian by becoming a monthly supporter or by making aone-off contribution - Guardian HQ

Theresa May’s elusiveness on policies during this morning’s television interviews has not stopped others trying to read between the lines.

On the Coffee House blog, the Spectator’s Fraser Nelson says her refusal to make “specific proposals on taxes” signifies “tax raises ahoy”. On May’s interview style, he writes:

Theresa May has perfected the art of saying nothing in interviews. The most any journalist can hope for is a subtle shift in position, or an absence where a position once stood. She seems to think that, if you refuse to give the press anything, the public won’t care. Worse, she seems to be right – for now, at least.

The Mirror has nine things we learned. They include: “She won’t take the blame for food banks.”

It cites her reply to a question from Andrew Marr on their use, including by nurses, that “there are many complex reasons why people go to food banks”.

Prime minister Theresa May appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.
Prime minister Theresa May appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show. Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA

Jeremy Corbyn has just received warm applause at the head teachers’ conference, espousing the benefits of Labour’s policy of free school meals for all primary schoolchildren. The Labour leader said:

Every child should have a healthy, nutritional meal whatever their background.

Corbyn said it would help children and teachers who will see improvements in the classroom and provide reassurance for parents.

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has defended his plan to stand in the Lincolnshire seat of Boston and Skegness, saying most MPs are not from their constituency, the Press Association reports.

Nuttall, who is an MEP for the North West of England, announced his plans to stand in the constituency on Friday during a visit to Hartlepool, which is more than 165 miles away from his chosen seat.

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he had been to Boston and Skegness “a fair few times”, insisting that he intended to “put the area on the map”.


Nuttall said:

This is the most eurosceptic seat within the country. We have got councillors right across the constituency. The branch were very keen for me to stand in this constituency and I was only too happy to take up their offer.

Asked whether he knew the area, he said:

I want to make a point here, people often say ‘Oh, you have to be from the local constituency’ - this isn’t a council election, this a parliamentary election. The vast majority of MPs, I would suggest to you, do not actually come from the constituency they represent. This is about putting this area on the map. I am a national political figure, I am a national party leader.

When I stand up in the House of Commons to represent the seat of Boston and Skegness, people will listen.

Nuttall said the party would put up “hundreds” of candidates in the upcoming election.

This is the John McDonnell interview on Peston on Sunday from this morning:

John McDonnell interview

Labour are claiming credit for Theresa May’s pledge on VAT.

Here’s the clip in which Theresa May made her VAT pledge:

My colleague Rowena Mason has written a story about the prime minister’s indication that she will ditch the Tory’s ‘tax lock’ promises.

Theresa May has signalled that she will ditch Conservative pledges not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, as well as the triple-lock formula for state pension increases.

The prime minister was unable to promise that any of the commitments would continue, just two years after the ‘tax lock’ formed a central plank of David Cameron’s 2015 election campaign.

On BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, in her first long TV interview of the election campaign, the prime minister was pressed about whether theConservatives would keep their pledge not to raise the three key taxes.

She claimed to have “absolutely no plans to increase the level of tax” and an intention to lower taxes on working families.

But she added: “I don’t want to make specific pledges on taxes unless I’m sure I can deliver on those.”

May is asked about her refusal to participate in TV debates, a question which was raised by a number of viewers who submitted questions.

The prime minister says she will not change her stance on the debates, says her priority is getting out and about meeting communities who have been neglected by politicians.

Peston: Is the government is introducing tax breaks to encourage people to save for social care?

May: These are the sorts of issues the Conservatives will be addressing in their manifesto.

Finally, Peston asks the prime minister about her three favourite recipes listed in her Mail on Sunday interview (Yottam Ottolenghi’s marinated rack of lamb with coriander and honey, Sabrina Ghayour’s spice salted squid and Diana Henry’s baked chicken with tarragon and Dijon mustard). What about the vegetarians, he asks.

The vegetarian vote is obviously important to May as well, so she replies, laughing:

I do cook vegetarian dishes as well.

May stuck largely to the similar soundbites she used with Marr. However, she did rule out increasing VAT....although that’s been said before:

And by implication she did not rule out increasing the other elements of the triple lock - national insurance and income tax.

Perhaps she was bounced into the VAT pledge as a result of John McDonnell’s vow that Labour would not increase the sales tax, earlier on the same programme.

May is asked again whether no deal would be better than a bad deal in the Brexit negotiations.

Right on cue, she says yes but she believes the UK can get a good deal with “strong and stable leadership”.

Peston asks about the EU members saying they will not talk about trade unless the UK agrees to pay what they say it owes them.

Despite repeated questioning May will not give a direct question. She says this kind of issue is why we need the right leadership.

On the pensions triple lock, Peston says it sounds like the prime minister will will drop the minimum 2.5% annual increase which forms one part of the lock, thereby replacing it with a double lock guaranteeing the rate of inflation or average earnings growth, whichever is largest.

May says he will have to wait for the manifesto.

PM rules out increasing VAT

May says the Conservatives have no plans to increase taxes whereas Labour “want to increase taxes”.

Peston asks the prime minister if she needs to reiterate the tax triple lock brought in by David Cameron, covering national insurance, income tax and VAT.

May rules out increasing VAT.

Updated

May is talking to Robert Peston now.

His first question is about her commitment on entering Number 10 to lift up the poor given that “every leading thinktank” says the poor will be disproportionately hurt by benefit changes at the same time as slow wage growth.

May says she is setting in place steps to help address injustices, referring to mental health issues, people struggling to pay the mortgage. Like she did with Marr, she stresses that it’s all about growing the economy. She also says we should think about those paying for benefits through their taxes despite being on low incomes themselves.

I want to see a country where people are able to get on in life and see a better future.

John McDonnell is on ITV’s Peston on Sunday. The shadow chancellor says there will be no increase in income tax for middle or low earners but declines to define what middle earners are. He tells Peston he will have to wait for the manifesto.

He also ruled out Labour increasing VAT and urged Peston to ask May whether she will do the same.

Updated

Since you’re here …

… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. You can give to the Guardian by becoming a monthly supporter or by making a one-off contribution - Guardian HQ

So, little light shed on the content of the Conservative manifesto in that interview.

Most interesting was her signal that the Conservatives will ditch its lock on income tax, national insurance and value added tax, although that has been hinted before. But it largely left unanswered questions and left many political observers unimpressed.

The prime minister is heading over to ITV for an interview with Robert Peston who will no doubt try to prise more from her.

May also does not rule out ending the pension triple lock. She says she will look at how it is calculated.

Asked about the chances of getting a trade deal with the EU, May says:

That’s why we need strong and stable leadership.

May is asked why she won’t protect the status of EU citizens in the UK like Jeremy Corbyn has.

The prime minister says she is seeking to guarantee the rights of UK citizens living in the EU.

There is goodwill there, I believe we can give that reassurance to people at an early stage.

Marr: Should the richest pay more tax?

May: They are paying a higher burden under the Tories than under Labour. Asked whether they should pay more, May says she wants to reduce the tax paid by people on low incomes.

Marr: Do you think gay sex is a sin?

May: No

Did you discuss Tory election agents being under investigation in calling the election?

May: No

May is asked whether more money will be made available to primary schools.

Marr quotes National Audit Office figures suggesting mainstream schools need to make £3bn of savings by 2020 as May insists funding is increasing. The prime minister says the government is committed to fair funding for schools.

She is then asked about the Tories’ tax lock:

We have absolutely no plans to commit the level of taxes.

....but May doesn’t “want to make specific pledges on taxes unless I’m sure I can deliver on those”.

Next, Marr asks the prime minister if she is taking a slightly different direction from David Cameron and George Osborne.

May praises her predecessor but says she is her own person. “We do need to deliver on Brexit,” she says. May says there are also long term challenges relating to the ageing population and the future shape of the economy.

Asked about pay levels in the public sector and nurses and other workers being forced to resort to food banks, May said the only way increases will be possible is if there is a government which ensures growth in the economy.

Marr suggests that the prime minister is offering no relief for working families, just more of the same.

May refuses to address the issue of public sector pay freezes directly, merely insisting that the Conservatives are committed to economic growth which she claims will benefit everyone.

Here’s the prime minister.

First up, Marr asks May to agree to no soundbites.

May says there is a reason she talks about strong and stable leadership and strong and stable government and that is because it’s the most important election in her lifetime. It’s important to get the best result in the Brexit negotiations to ensure the UK has a strong hand.

Farron’s parting shot is:

Here in London if you want a strong opposition the only choice is the Lib Dems.

Farron points to results in France as proof that “politics in the western hemisphere has never been more unpredictable”.

He says the one option to prevent a hard Brexit is to vote for the Lib Dems.

A Conservative landslide means they will take you for granted wherever you live.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron is up before Theresa May.

Andrew Marr suggests Farron is being unrealistic is telling voters they can change the course of the country by voting for his party.

Farron says there is “a vacancy as leader of the opposition” and the Lib Dems would be a strong opposition.

Marr says the headlines over the Lib Dem leader’s views on gay sex have been unhelpful to Farron with young people - the very people he needs to attract.

Farron admits he would have preferred the focus had not been on that issue and tries to move the subject onto Brexit.

How can you affect government if you say you won’t go into a coalition, Farron is asked.

He says people should be reassured they are not voting for the Lib Dems as a proxy for someone else.

Britain desperately needs a strong, decent opposition.

Rachel Johnson (Boris’s sister) is asked by Andrew Marr about her big brother’s reaction to her decision to back the Lib Dems. She said that the details of that conversation will remain private but reiterates that she is voting for Lib Dems because she wants to stop Brexit.

In today’s Mail on Sunday she writes:

I can’t in all conscience support a party (and I write as a former economics hack on the FT and past Tory voter) that’s committed to sacrificing prosperity on the altar of a false and unfeasible pledge to bring immigration down to the tens of thousands, a target that the Office for Budget Responsibility says will cost £6 billion a year.

The prime minister is coming up on the Andrew Marr show shortly after 9am. Although we know polls can be wrong, she will be pleased with what they are telling her this morning (although the lead over Labour is slightly down).

Updated

Good morning and welcome to today’s live general election coverage. Theresa May is appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr show in her first TV interview of the campaign.

We’ll also be covering all the other election developments.

Some of the stories making the headlines this morning are:

Labour vows to outlaw zero-hours contracts, the Observer reports. The party is also making commitments to double paid paternity leave to four weeks, increase paternity pay and guarantee temporary and part-time workers the same rights as full-time employees.

May has has revealed plans to stop “irresponsible bosses” bringing about a repeat of the BHS scandal. The party’s general election manifesto will contain a commitment to give the Pensions Regulator new powers to scrutinise takeovers or “unsustainable” dividend payments that threaten the solvency of a company pension scheme, she told the Mail on Sunday. She also described Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “weak, unstable, nonsensical and floundering” and said Labour had launched seven “conflicting” Brexit plans.

Prominent Labour donor, Michael Foster, has pledged to stand against Corbyn in the general election if he does not stand down. Foster, who was suspended by the party after launching a legal bid to oust Corbyn, said the results of the looming local elections should decide his fate. Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: “There are a lot of things a political party looks for in a leader. Jeremy Corbyn possesses none of them. Because of him, Labour faces annihilation at the polls.”

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