The Labor Party rules out changes to council tax rates

Labor has ruled out changing council tax thresholds following further review of the party’s tax plans.

Over the weekend, the Conservatives took aim at Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s refusal to allow Labor to copy council tax changes introduced by the Labor-led Welsh government.

But pressing for clarification on Times Radio, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said: “We are not changing council tax thresholds.”

We are entering the second half of the election campaign. Conservative tactics become clear.

A blizzard of political announcements did not change the polls, so now the Conservatives are relentlessly attacking Labour’s economic policy in an attempt to force it to rule out further tax rises.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labor “does not want to see the tax burden on working people increase”.

The party has already come much further than Tony Blair in 1997. In his manifesto he only promised not to increase the basic and top rates of income tax.

It also stuck to Tory spending plans for two years.

Going into this election, Sir Keir Starmer ruled out a rise in the rates of income tax, VAT, national insurance and corporation tax.

Last week, in an interview with Panorama, he was asked whether he would repeat his commitment to capital gains tax (CGT).

Sir Keir repeated Labour’s assurance that none of his plans required tax increases beyond those already announced and that the manifesto was fully covered.

However, this position was soon tightened to ensure that people selling their main home would not pay CGT.

Something similar has now happened with council tax.

England’s current council tax thresholds, unchanged since 1991, have been criticized for failing to reflect soaring house prices. Critics say it favors wealthier property owners.

The Labor-led Welsh Government is planning renovations The council tax system in Wales in 2028

Home valuations in Wales have been revalued over the last 12 months, creating new property groups that could raise council tax for more than 470,000 homes and reduce it for around 800,000 households.

Defense Secretary Grant Shapps accused Labor of secretly planning to copy the program to pay for “spending promises without resources”.

“When we start getting into the details, we know they are planning to change the scope of council tax, just as they have done where Labor runs things in Wales,” he told BBC Radio’s Today programme.

Ashworth described the Conservatives’ claims as “another nonsense from an increasingly desperate Tory campaign, probably the most desperate Tory campaign I have seen in my life.”

On Monday, Shapps said separately that he was a “realist” and would not “try to pretend that black is white,” insisting the Conservatives were on track to win.

He told Times Radio that “winning the election is possible (for the Conservatives)” but admitted it was “not the most likely outcome” and added: “I’m a realist.”

Asked if a Tory victory was unlikely, he replied: “I think that’s a realistic position, doesn’t it? I mean, I live in the real world. So, you know, let’s not try to pretend that black is white.”

So why do conservatives adopt this strategy?

Labor says the focus on taxes is a sign of “desperation” in the Tory campaign, but Conservative insiders believe they are creating doubts in voters’ minds about Keir Starmer’s economic policies and limiting his room for maneuver if he becomes prime minister.