Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
clear sky
weather
OMAN
25°C / 25°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

UK Conservatives pledge no tax hike for top earners as vote nears

1028799
1028799
minus
plus

LONDON: An ally of British Prime Minister Theresa May has said income tax will not rise for higher earners in an apparent new promise to voters less than a week before a national election with opinion polls showing a narrowing of her lead.


The comments from Defence Minister Michael Fallon to a newspaper, which May sought to play down, looked like the latest mixed message from the ruling Conservatives who have seen their popular support fall ahead of the June 8 election.


Polls suggest the Conservatives are set to win but are no longer likely to get the kind of landslide victory that would have boosted May ahead of the launch of complicated negotiations on Britain’s exit from the European Union.


Fallon told the Daily Telegraph that the Conservative Party would not hike the top rate of income tax, striking a contrast with the main opposition Labour Party.


The Telegraph said it asked Fallon if high earners could be sure their taxes would not go up under a new Conservative government, to which he replied: “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,” he said. But May, asked by reporters whether Fallon’s comments meant the Conservatives were shifting their position on tax, said there had been no change.


“We’ve 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 is and always will be a low-tax party,” she said during a campaign stop. May called the snap election in April when opinion polls were showing she had a lead of more than 20 points over Labour under the leadership of left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.


But since then May’s lead has been eaten away, meaning she might no longer score the thumping victory she had hoped for ahead of this month’s launch of Brexit negotiations.


A poll showed on Friday that the Conservatives were ahead of Labour by five percentage points, down sharply from 15 a little more than two weeks earlier. Another poll this week said the lead was down to three points.


The decline in support for the Conservatives coincided with a surprise announcement by May last month that she would make elderly people pay more for their social care, despite concerns that it could undermine support among ageing, wealthy homeowners — a core source of Conservative vote.


May later softened the proposal by saying there would be a limit on the amount that people would have to pay.


 — Reuters


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon