Theresa May hints at tax hikes for the wealthy in election pitch to win over fed up former Labour voters
Prime Minister implied the move as part of her quest to build a 'fairer' country while on whistlestop tour of Lancashire
THERESA May left the door wide open last night to tax hikes for the rich as she set her sights on Labour voters in Lancashire.
It came as the Premier again refused to rule out revisiting scrapped changes to National Insurance for Britain's strivers.
Mrs May used a bank holiday visit to the sunny North West to shore up support in a Tory held marginal but also parked her blue tank firmly in safe Labour seats.
Addressing activists in the bellwether constituency of South Ribble, the PM hinted tax rises were coming for the super rich as part of her quest to build a "fairer" country.
The Lancashire marginal has flicked between Tory and Labour since the 1980s, but Mrs May also knocked doors in the safe Labour seats of West Lancashire and Stockport during a whistlestop tour of the region.
And in her pitch to win over disillusioned former Labour voters, the PM took aim at the super rich.
While Mrs May is drawing up manifesto plans not to increase the total tax take, she has faced intense scrutiny over tweaks to specific levies.
It is thought that Mrs May is poised to ditch David Cameron's "tax lock" 2015 pledge not to raise VAT, National Insurance or income taxes.
Chancellor Philip Hammond recently said the policy tied his hands as he tried to steer the economy.
On Sunday the Prime Minister ruled out any rise in VAT but she pointedly refused to make a similar pledge on income taxes.
And asked twice over the long weekend, she refused to be drawn on whether the Government intended to reignite hated changes to National Insurance on the self-employed that were abandoned from March's budget.
Speaking to activists and MPs in a sweltering village hall in in picturesque Mawdesley, Lancs, Mrs May said she has been "very clear that we have no intention of increasing the level of tax but you're right I have said and I repeated here today our intention is to reduce taxes on working families."
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Probed later on whether she is weighing up a tax hike on high earners, Mrs May dodged the question saying: "if you look at what has happened for those who are the highest earners the top one per cent of tax payers are paying a higher proportion of income tax than they did in any year of a Labour Government."
And swerving the question again, she added "a fair tax system that's what we look for and Conservatives natural instinct is for lower taxes."
Her soak the rich hint came as new research by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that the top one percent of earners already pay 27 per cent of all income tax.
And their data shows the top 10 per cent pay 60 per cent of all income tax.
Last night the think tank said: "Even if the Conservatives do not intend to increase the overall burden of taxation, they would be sensible to maintain flexibility and not rule out increases in Income Tax or NICs."
They went on: "Any government that rules out NICs rises will be unable to directly tackle the public finance hole created by growing self-employment."
Top IFS boffin Helen Millar added: "Regardless of whether a party wants to raise or cut taxes overall, the tax lock is bad policy and should not be repeated in any of the upcoming manifestos."
Mrs May's visit to South Ribble also coincided with local council elections on 4 May - where top Tories believe they can wrestle control of the local authority from Labour.
The Conservatives are also hoping to take the neighbouring seat of Chorley at June's snap poll from current commons Deputy Speaker Lyndsy Hoyle.
A senior Tory campaign source told The Sun: "you don't win the keys to No10 without seats like South Ribble and you don't win big without sweeping through Lancashire."