Sir Keir Starmer in Manchester to launch Labour’s General Election manifesto

Sir Keir Starmer is to launch Labour’s general election bid in Manchester today, saying it will contain no “fiscal surprises” for voters. Labor has said it will put “wealth creation” at the heart of the manifesto, with Sir Keir ready to proclaim economic growth as his party’s “core business”.

The Labor leader will launch the document after polls showed he came out on top in the latest election event alongside Rishi Sunak – Sky News’ The Battle For No 10 program on Wednesday night. Some 64 per cent of those polled said Sir Keir had performed better, ahead of Mr Sunak, who had the approval of 36 per cent of 1,864 respondents.

Meanwhile, the prime minister is taking a break from campaigning and will head to a G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, where she is set to announce new funding for war-torn Ukraine.

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Both party leaders faced jeers and tough questions from members of the public as they took part in the programme, with Mr Sunak booed after claiming the junior doctors’ strike had impacted on NHS waiting lists, while Sir Keir has been branded a “political robot”.

In a bid to calm nerves over the possibility of shock costs for voters, Sir Keir assured the audience he had no plans to put in fuel duty or capital gains tax, having already ruled out raising income tax, national insurance or VAT in the next period. parliament.

“We will unveil our manifesto tomorrow – no tax surprises, no need to raise taxes on the plans we are putting in place,” Sir Keir told Sky News.

The economy forms the backbone of the party’s pitch to voters, which will be unveiled at an event in Manchester, after Labor made economic stability the first of six “first steps” for government. Thursday’s headline announcement is expected to include a pledge to cap corporate tax at the current rate of 25 percent to give businesses long-term certainty, the latest in a series of pledges not to raise the tax.

Previously announced tax increases the party has proposed include levying VAT on private school fees, removing non-dom tax status and closing “loopholes” in the one-off tax for oil and gas companies.

During the Sky News show, an audience member criticized Labor leader Sir Keir for appearing to have become a “political robot”, but members of the public were more vocal about Mr Sunak. He was laughed at when he claimed inflation was “always meant to come down over time” and was accused of dashing the “hopes and dreams” of young home-owners.

The embattled prime minister insisted he would “continue to fight hard until the last day of this election” after being forced to say he had not given up hope of winning the contest.

“We have a clear plan for the future to make a difference for people – to reduce their taxes, to reduce immigration, to protect pensions,” he added. Sunak will take a campaign break on Thursday as he heads to Italy to meet with heads of state from the other G7 countries, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

There, he will announce a £242m aid package for Kiev, earmarked ahead of the election, aimed at meeting Ukraine’s immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilization needs and laying the foundations for economic and social recovery in the longer term long and for reconstruction. Elsewhere during the campaign, the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru will launch its manifesto.

Ahead of the launch in Cardiff, Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said his party would “fight every day” for the billions owed to the country from the HS2 high-speed rail project and for a fair funding model that “funds our country as it needs, not population”.