FACT CHECK
The claims so far
“I will introduce an immediate 50% cut in VAT on fuel, reducing filling up the average family car by £10 per fill.” —Penny Mordaunt
This looks slightly too high. At the moment, 32p of an average-priced litre of fuel is VAT. If the rate were halved, as Ms Mordaunt is suggesting, it would therefore save drivers about 16p per litre. The RAC considers an average family car to have a capacity of 55 litres. So a car with a fuel tank that size would cost about £8.80 less to fill under Ms Mordaunt’s plan.
"Changes tomorrow to the National Insurance Thresholds will save a typical employee £330 per year." —Rishi Sunak
It’s true the amount an employee can earn before they begin paying National Insurance increased from £9,880 per year to £12,570 per year. However Mr Sunak’s £330 figure does not show the impact of the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions which was introduced three months ago.
Factoring in both tax changes, employees earning less than £35,000 will pay less in National Insurance than in the previous year, while those earning above £35,000 will actually pay more.
“The candidates to replace [Boris Johnson] have promised £330 billion in giveaways.” —Keir Starmer
Labour reached its figure by adding together estimated costs of pledges on tax cuts and spending made by all 11 leadership candidates—including the same pledges made by multiple candidates. As such, this estimate involves double-counting similar policies.
For example, Labour adds up Tom Tugendhat, Sajid Javid and Liz Truss all promising to reverse the National Insurance increase (essentially counting the same policy three times).
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