Stats watchdog slaps down Tory minister Laura Trott for 'misleading' tax claims

20 February 2024 , 08:27

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Bungling Treasury Minister Laura Trott was told she could have misled the public (Image: Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)

Two Treasury ministers' claims about tax levels have been criticised by the official statistics watchdog.

Sir Robert Chote, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, said the public could have been "misled - or at least confused" by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott's claim to MPs in November that "taxes for the average worker will have gone down by £1,000 since 2010".

Economic Secretary to the Treasury Bim Afolami, was also criticised for saying that "taxes are coming down" in January. Sir Robert said Mr Afolami "was not as explicit ... as he could have been", adding that the interviewer putting the comment into the context of broader personal tax changes and trends meant the listener was unlikely to have been misled.

Labour said the verdict was "damning" and said the least the Tories could do was be honest about the tax burden, which is the highest since the Second World War.

In a letter published on Monday, Sir Robert continued: "I suspect that the public are more likely to have been misled - or at least confused - by Ms Trott's statements, both of which would probably suggest to a typical listener that the average worker's overall tax bill has fallen in cash terms."

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The Treasury's £1,000 figure is based on an estimate of the average tax bill if personal thresholds had increased in line with inflation since 2010. But thresholds have been frozen by the Tories, pulling people into higher tax brackets.

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: "The UK Statistics Authority's verdict on Laura Trott's comments are damning. She is found to have potentially misled the public or used confusing statements when talking about the Tories' record on tax.

"The truth is working people don't need to listen to Government ministers to know they are paying more in tax. They just need to look at their payslips. Laura Trott should come to the Commons and correct the record. The least Rishi Sunak can do when hammering working people with the highest tax burden in 70 years is make sure his team tell it straight."

The watchdog has previously criticised Rishi Sunak for making potentially misleading claims about the size of the asylum backlog and public debt. The Prime Minister is under pressure to reduce both under his five pledges from January 2023 - to stop the boats, cut NHS waiting lists, grow the economy, halve inflation and get debt falling. He has not met any of these commitments apart from cutting inflation, which critics say was the responsibility of the Bank of England rather than the Government.

Sophie Wingate