May refuses to rule out income tax rise, despite ministers' pledge

Theresa May has refused to rule out an income tax rise, despite senior ministers pledging there will be "absolutely" no increase for higher earners.

The Prime Minister declined to guarantee income tax would not rise despite promises to voters from her Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary.

When asked to clarify the commitment from Boris Johnson and Sir Michael Fallon during her visit to Dewsbury on Saturday morning, Mrs May said only that the Conservatives were the "low tax party".

She said: "Our position on tax has not changed. We have set it out in the manifesto.

"What people will know when they go to vote on Thursday is that it is the Conservative Party that always has been and always will be the low tax party and it is our firm intention to reduce taxes for ordinary working families."

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She went on to outline the Conservative plans to increase the amount people can earn without paying tax to £12,500 and raising the 40p tax threshold.

It comes after Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faced fierce questioning from voters in the final television showdown before voters go to the polls.

Image:Boris Johnson and Sir Michael Fallon have both made pledges on income tax

Sir Michael Fallon had ruled out income tax increases for higher earners in an interview with a newspaper, published on Saturday morning.

He said the Tories were not in the "business of punishing people for getting on" as he made a bid to get wealthier voters to the polling stations on Thursday.

His comments were the first to explicitly rule out an income tax increase for higher earners.

In their manifesto, the Conservatives scrapped their triple lock pledge not to raise income tax, VAT and national insurance contributions.

They committed to keep income tax "as low as possible" but did not rule out a hike.

However, asked if higher earners could be confident a Conservative government would not increase income tax, Sir Michael told The Daily Telegraph: "Yes. You've seen our record. We're not in the business of punishing people for getting on, on the contrary we want people to keep more of their earnings.

"The only way they can be sure their taxes won't rise is to vote Conservative. We already know your tax will go up if you vote Labour on Thursday."

On Friday night, Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, also ruled out increases to income tax, telling BBC's Newsnight that the party had "absolutely no plans" to do so.

The Conservative manifesto has ruled out an increase in VAT, suggesting that the Chancellor Philip Hammond might well increase National Insurance contributions, as he had planned to in the Budget, but reversed after protests.

Mrs May also refused to be drawn on whether the government would increase the National Insurance contributions for self-employed people.

Labour's plans would see the 45p rate of income tax kick in for people earning £80,000 instead of the current £150,000 and a new 50p rate for people earning more than £123,000.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Defence Secretary's comments showed the Tories were the party for "the few, not the many".

He said: "The only guarantee the Tories are prepared to give at this election is to big business and high earners while low and middle income earners have seen no guarantee from Theresa May that their taxes won't be raised.

"And pensioners are left to worry about whether they will be able to heat their homes or even keep their homes, with no clarity on cuts to winter fuel payments or the dementia tax."