The Treasury’s permanent secretary told Labour that Tory claims about the opposition’s tax and spending plans “should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service”.
Rishi Sunak’s claim that Labour would put up taxes by £2,000 is largely based on analysis conducted by the Treasury, commissioned by the Conservatives, which examined the costs of Labour’s planned policies.
However, James Bowler, the Treasury’s top civil servant, said in a June 3 letter to Labour that he had told ministers to be careful about how they presented the work done by his department.
He said in response to a letter sent by Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury: “As you will expect, civil servants were not involved in the production or presentation of the Conservative Party’s document ‘Labour’s Tax Rises’ or in the calculation of the total figure used.
“In your letter you highlight that the £38bn figure used in the Conservative Party’s publication includes costs beyond those provided by the Civil Service and published online by HM Treasury.
“I agree that any costings derived from other sources or produced by other organisations should not be presented as having been produced by the Civil Service. I have reminded ministers and advisers that this should be the case.”
The Tories’ “Labour Tax Rises” document did state that “almost every costing contained here has been conducted by HM Treasury”.
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, said on May 17 when he published the document: “Today, I’m releasing analysis by independent civil servants at the Treasury on Labour’s plans for office. That shows a £38 billion black hole in their plans, which can only be fixed by further tax rises – the equivalent of £2100 per family.”
Claire Coutinho, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, had told the BBC before the letter emerged this morning that the costings had been “signed off by the Treasury, by the permanent secretary of the Treasury, as the amount the proposals that the Labour Party have put forward so far would cost families.”