Major British parties all rule out future tax hikes

The three largest political parties contesting the United Kingdom's general election — the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats — have all vowed not to raise the rate of any of the nation's major taxes.

They each made the promise on Thursday, saying they will freeze value added tax, income tax, and national insurance tax if they prevail in the July 4 election and are invited to form the next government.

Before the round of announcements on the first official day of campaigning following the dissolution of Parliament, the ruling Conservative Party had claimed the Labour Party, which is well ahead in pre-election opinion polls, was planning to increase value added tax, or VAT. The Conservatives said Labour would have to do so to fund spending plans that it claimed would cost 36 billion pounds ($45.8 billion).

But on Radio 4's Today program, Darren Jones, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the treasury, said his party was offering a "cast iron guarantee" it will not raise any of the country's taxes.

"We've been consistent in saying we have no plans to increase taxes on working people because it's the highest it has been for 70 years," he said in reference to Labour's claim that UK residents are now paying more in taxes than at any point since the 1950s.

Labour's shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, also scoffed at claims she had been planning to hike the rate of VAT, which is a 20 percent general consumption tax levied at each stage of a product's production and distribution.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, the UK's finance minister, also committed to freezing taxes, saying on the BBC's television news program Breakfast it was his party's vow that prompted Labour to follow suit.

He also insisted the UK's cost-of-living crisis had been caused by global factors and not his party's management of the economy, as Labour had claimed.

"Most people understand that," he said. "Of course, the Labour Party would like to say that it's something a Conservative government did."

The Liberal Democrats, the UK's third-largest party based on votes cast at previous elections, also vowed to freeze income tax, VAT, and national insurance tax, with spokesperson Munira Wilson saying the only change it wanted for the tax system was around money collected from banks, technology companies, and energy giants, which she said should contribute more to such things as mental health professionals in schools.

"They have benefited from problems in the economy and society and should be paying their fair share," she said on Breakfast.

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, said on the Today program that the proposed additional taxes would be "peanuts" to the companies, but would help fund "really vital public services".