'Labour would run riot in government'

Joining me now is spinner #1 James Timely, the Home Secretary. OK, go on. Tell us what, what's your spin for this evening? How's what you see that going to do? Well, I think what the Prime Minister is going to do is encourage, perhaps for the first time in his campaign, Keir Starmer to be honest, because we've seen dishonesty after dishonesty after dishonesty. In the original debate, he basically said that he was dishonest about Jeremy Corbyn, but he didn't think it mattered because he didn't say he thought he wasn't going to win. So basically saying I'm lying to you, but I don't think I'm going to get caught is, I don't think a good look. And then today we've seen the person who'd be the number two at the Treasury in the Labour government has basically said that they are hiding the true cost of their green taxes. He said 28 billion was a tiny amount of money and actually the figure would be hundreds of billions. That's come to light today. And he said in the audio clip that they would be dishonest about the numbers because of media scrutiny. So tonight, I think the Prime Minister will push for honesty. He'll push for the fact that we have got a plan, that Labour Party does not have a plan and that taxes will inevitably go up under Labour. I've got to come in on honesty. You know, the big question has been about trust in the Conservatives and this betting scandal that is distracted from everything else. Do you think you guys are in a position to be making a point about honesty and trust? Well, candidates from a number of parties are being investigated over gambling. The Prime minister's been clear on this. He's furious about this and rightly so. You enter public service to serve the public. The Gambling Commission are conducting their own investigation. We respect their instructions not to discuss their investigation. We have taken action against the candidates involved. I mean, having about guns blazing, saying that you need to wait for this process to finish and now the process. No, no, what we spent, what I said, two people, what I said, you must be a bit missed. What I said is we weren't going to discuss it. I didn't say we weren't going to take action. We've done an internal investigation. We have. We have decided that the candidates do not meet the threshold that we demand of them. The Gambling Commission has got its own investigation. We respect that. But that is separate. But but I guarantee you in two weeks time, if heaven forbid Labour form the next government when they start ramping up taxes, I don't want to say I told you so. Rishi Sunak does not want to say I told you so. What we want to do is protect the British people from the huge tax rises that a Labour government would bring in. Do you find out? I mean, you used to be party chairman back in 2019 when you won that big victory. Do you, do you think any of this would have happened if you'd bet the party chairman? I mean, do you find it disappointing that your kind of campaign message keeps getting derailed because of these scandals? Elections are always difficult. And as I say, the the PM and I and, and, and I think almost everyone in the party is furious that we are being forced to talk about this issue because of the poor behaviour of a small number of individuals rather than our promise, for example, to increase by 8000 the number of fully warranted full time police officers we're putting on the streets of London, Sorry, on the streets of the UKA commitment. The Labour Party is not matching. I don't know why they're matching it, because in London, where they run policing, police numbers are falling, not rising. So where Labour runs things, they run it badly. We've got a plan. Labour do not. We will bring people's taxes down. Labour will put people's taxes up. Of course, I would rather be talking about that choice and that's why we've taken action against these individuals. I mean, you'll bring people's taxes. I mean the tax have been a record high and the thresholds mean that taxes will go up. So we have already started bringing people's taxes down and we've focused those tax reductions on working people, on National Insurance contributions, which we have brought down. We're continuing, if we return to government, to bring those down, to scrapping National Insurance contributions entirely for the self-employed. The thresholds mean that millions of people are going to be paying more tax. Working people will have the lowest tax burden in decades under a Conservative administration and the Labour Party can't make that commitment. And they won't make that commitment because Rachel Reeves, key advisor, has said taxes have got to go up. The voters know this in their hearts. Labour. Neither of you are being Labour. Labour put up taxes whenever they think they can get away with it. As Conservatives, we put up taxes when we have to in order to fund the furlough scheme, for example, or to help people with their fuel bills because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But in our heart, we want to ease the tax burden. We are committed to do so. Labour will put taxes up big time. Do you think you can still win this election? Well, look, the opinion polls say one thing. The conversations I'm having on the doorsteps say something very contradictory. I'm not going to bother to try and predict. All I'm going to do and know the Prime Minister and the rest of the candidates are doing the same is we're campaigning hard. We are reminding people what the choice is at this election. We're campaigning for every vote. We are campaigning to get as many Conservative MPs as possible. Of course you've got to admit it would be a shock. Of course it would be a shock if you shocks happen in politics. Of course we want to form a government. But if the British people say no to that, we have absolutely got to make sure that we protect them from the ineptitude and dishonesty of a Labour government. And can I ask you, what do you see as a marginal seat? Because I've been hearing that you've been moving resources out of seats with 10 to 20,000 majorities to places like your seat which has a 25,000 majority. So look, I'm not party chairman, I am, I'm the Home secretary, I'm the home secretary and I'm a candidate. So we campaign to maximise the number of MPs that we get. We are seeking, of course, to form a government. That's what you do during a general election campaign. But as I say, if we, if we're not able to do that, we are determined to protect the British people from the, from the awful outcome. What does that mean? Well, that means, as I say, we're trying to get as many MPs elected as possible. Our desire, our, our, our, our, our strategic goal is to try and form a government. Of course it is. But as I say, if the British people and they are the ones, they are the ones that are deciding the outcome of this election through their votes. And what we're saying is that if, if we don't form a government that we are absolutely determined to make sure we do not let the Labour Party run riot as they would do putting up taxes. We're going to put all this to the Labour Party in a minute. Sure. What do you, I mean, what can Rishi Sunak do this evening? What kind of magic are you? Are you expecting? And I go back to the point I made at the start. The Labour dishonesty throughout this campaign has been breathtaking. We've got the shadow home secretary claiming she's going to create Home Office functions that already exist. And she knows that they exist. So she's been, she is being dishonest with the British people. This, this Board of command already exists. The returns unit already exists. We're here to talk about your no, but no, But the point is, the point is people need to ask themselves is, is the party that according to opinion polls could well form the next government? Are they being honest with us? Are they being honest with us about the scale of their tax increases? Are they being honest with us about, as I say, the the person would be the number two at the Treasury saying court audio saying that they were being dishonest about the 28 billion in green taxes because of media pressure and the actual figure would be hundreds of billions. They have got to be honest and if they can't do it now, they will not do it. We will put some of that to Labour. Thank you so much. Home Secretary James Cleverly there spinning for the Conservatives ahead of that debate this evening.