Treasury claim Labour plan leaves £13 billion black hole – sparking tax hike fears

LABOUR’S home insulation scheme will cost more than DOUBLE their £6 billion estimates, the Treasury claim.

Ministers have triggered a fresh £28 billion borrowing by using officials to knock down the opposition’s policy programme.

The analysis reveals that the scheme will cost in the region of £13 billion a year which is more than double what Sir Keir Starmer had estimated.

But the Tory calculations has sparked a major row over the neutrality of the civil service who have been dragged in to work on the calculations.

The Tories say that this policy ‘blows another hole’ in Labour’s flagship green energy jobs plan saying the black hole is the equivalent to a 2p rise in income tax for workers.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “This official costing shows that a key plank of Labour’s policy costs double what they have claimed.

But given it was all coming out of a £28 billion a year spending splurge which is cancelled one day and then reinstated the next, the overall picture is an opposition party in a general election year that simply does not have an economic plan.

“And when you have an explicit spending commitment without a plan to pay for it, it can only mean one thing – higher taxes.”

The costing by the Treasury show there are 13 million homes with a rating below C – which would cost more than £7 billion that the party’s estimates.

But a Labour spokesperson said: “This costing is ludicrous and uses bogus assumptions. They have costed someone else’s policy, not Labour’s.”

It comes after party’s green pledge was thrown into fresh chaos yesterday as Sir Keir Starmer appeared at odds with his own shadow chancellor.

The party leader said a £28billion-a-year spending spree was “desperately needed” to boost renewable energy.

His remarks came after Rachel Reeves recently refused 10 times to commit to the eye-watering figure that insiders have claimed is all-but dead.

Senior Tories today jumped on the confusion to accuse Sir Keir of plotting a tax raid on families to pay for the eco promise.

Jeremy Hunt said it was equal to a four per cent hike in income tax or eight per cent hike in corporation tax.

Sir Keir told Times Radio: “We’re going to have to have a proper industrial strategy with our partners.

“We’re going to have to deal with the grid, which is far too slow connecting up, and we’re going to need investment.

“That’s where the 28 billion comes in, that investment that is desperately needed for that mission.

The Sun first revealed that Labour was preparing to drop the £28billion price tag late last month.

Sources complained the figure had become “an albatross around our necks” amid relentless Tory attacks on how it would be paid for.

Ms Reeves even refused 10 times to confirm she would spend £28billion per year if she became Chancellor, while her deputy said the number would “move around”.

Labour has denied any splits between Sir Keir and Ms Reeves but would not be drawn on the fate of the policy.