Are Labour coming for pensioners? Reeves adviser says well-off older people must 'contribute' and warns 'unpopular' inheritance tax rises are 'on the agenda'

A Labour adviser has urged Keir Starmer to target well-off pensioners on the eve of the general election.

Edward Troup, a former HM Revenue & Customs chief who has been advising shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, said the older generation must 'contribute'.

In an interview with LBC Radio, Sir Edward also insisted inheritance tax rises must be 'on the agenda' even though they were 'unpopular'. 

The ex-mandarin, who has been giving advice on how to 'modernise' HMRC and improve compliance, stressed that he was not laying out Labour policy.

The party also insisted: 'These are not Labour Party policies.' 

But the intervention will fuel fresh fears that Sir Keir has much wider plans on tax than the party is currently letting on.

It came as Rishi Sunak continued to warn about Labour winning a 'supermajority' when polling stations open tomorrow morning.

The Prime Minister stressed he was 'campaigning hard for every vote' in the final hours of the campaign, despite a slew of fresh polls showing he is on course to lead the Tories to a devastating defeat.

A YouGov MRP survey of more than 42,000 people published tonight showed Labour is set to win the largest House of Commons majority in almost 200 years.

It suggested Sir Keir's party could win 431 seats and a majority of 212 seats, while the Conservatives would be reduced to just 102 MPs.

A separate mega poll by More in Common found Labour were on course to scoop a mammoth 430 seats. 

But, despite the grim polls, Mr Sunak this evening said he could 'look myself in the mirror and know that I am working as hard as I can' to turn around the Tories' fortunes.

'I am someone who has the courage of my convictions, I'm not someone who changes their opinion with the weather, which is what Keir Starmer does,' he swiped.

As the UK braces to learn who will be in charge for the next five years: 

• There are claims Sir Keir will install Harriet Harman as the next head of the equalities watchdog, despite concerns over her support for gender ideology;
• Suella Braverman has effectively launched the Tory post-mortem saying the election is 'over' and high immigration was to blame for defeat;
• Mr Sunak has bizarrely insisted his favourite meal is 'sandwiches' during a This Morning interview;
• He also issued a warning to Sir Keir that he cannot be a 'great dad' and PM at the same time, after the Labour leader suggested he still wants to clock off on Friday evenings; 
• Nigel Farage is still trying to seal the deal with voters in Clacton, as Reform struggles to turn votes into seats;
• A poll has suggested the SNP could remain the biggest party in Scotland after a threat from Labour. 

The Tories have been repeatedly warning that Labour has left loopholes in its commitments that could allow them to raise significant revenues. 

Sir Edward said this afternoon: 'Both political parties have ruled out increasing the rates of the main taxes, so if the incoming government does want to raise money and the indication is that they will have to, one way or another, then they really do have to look at the smaller taxes.

'And inheritance tax, it's not a tiny tax, it's a reasonable size tax and so inheritance tax will have to be on the agenda.

'But it will be unpopular and the amount that can be raised, even by quite radical changes is not going to make the difference between problems with the public finances and solving the problems.

'If you wanted to look at ways of raising money which don't affect the economy, which obviously income tax and National Insurance do, then inheritance tax ticks a lot of boxes.'

Sir Edward said Baby Boomers - born in the 1950s - had it 'better' than subsequent generations.

He said: 'I'm in this category myself, I'm a baby boomer, I was born in the fifties, I bought my house when interest rates were high, but inflation was a lot higher.

'My income went up and paying off my mortgage became easier.

'My generation is having it better than the generation who are currently working.

'I don't mean pensioners who are not well off, I mean pensioners who work and have got income - they should be taxed at least as hard as those people you know who are working of working age.'

He cautioned that an incoming Labour government will need to look at bringing in more money from somewhere.

'I do think National Insurance contributions for those people who are continuing to work and continuing to earn after state pension age – we shouldn't take their state pension away but we should ask why should you suddenly pay less tax?' he said.

'A lot of people do go on working and often full time and very remuneratively, after the state pension age. So I'd look at National Insurance.'

Sir Edward also suggested the state pension might also need to be means tested in future due to the spiralling costs to the public purse.

'It's a benefit which you've earned, but in a sense, we've earned all our benefits by paying tax and being members of society,' he said.

'I don't think it's wrong, it's an income and actually, you do pay tax on it as it happens.

'We can all think of the wealthy individuals in this country and say, well, do we think he or she should have a full state pension?

'Or if the public finances are in a bit of a state, perhaps he or she should be giving that up? So, there is a debate to be had.

'It's not easy and I don't hold a particular view about how we deliver something which I think, should be delivered.

'My generation, the pensioners' generation, if they've got income, if they've got means, should be contributing at least as much, and possibly more than those people who are working, bringing up families and are really contributing now to that country.'

Sir Edward stressed he was not advising Labour on policy.

'The panel is looking at making HMRC work better, it's not been looking at policy, it's looking at how can we collect money at the taxes that are there, better,' he said.

'I have not been advising on policy... Any views are well away from what I've been discussing with Labour.'

But, responding to Sir Edward's comments, Tory minister Bim Afolami - the Economic Secretary to the Treasury - said: 'The British people don't just need to take our word for it on Labour's tax plans – just listen to what Rachel Reeves' top adviser said today, when he confirmed Labour will reach for the tax lever the second it gets a chance.

'If Labour are handed a supermajority on Thursday, they will have no one to stop them hiking up your taxes. Do not surrender your home, your car, your pension, your savings or your children's education to Labour's tax raid.

'Just 130,000 votes across the country will be enough to stop Labour's supermajority. Vote Conservative on 4 July to halt Starmer's tax raid.'

According to the YouGov MRP study, 16 Cabinet ministers are expected to lose their seats, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Several Tory MPs mooted as potential successors to Mr Sunak are also under threat, including Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt in Portsmouth North and  former immigration minister Robert Jenrick in Newark.

It came after Sir Keir frantically tried to play down fears Labour will get 'unchecked' power today as the election campaigns enters its final dash for the line.

The Labour leader tried to quell mounting alarm that he is set for the biggest majority ever seen, insisting many seats will 'go to the wire' and polls do not predict the future.

The twitchy message came as the PM made a last-ditch effort to avert a complete Tory meltdown after getting a big boost from a joint appearance with Boris Johnson.

At a rally last night, Mr Johnson warned that Sir Keir would use a 'sledgehammer' majority to bring in 'mandatory wokery' and 'uncontrolled immigration'.

Mr Sunak used the last day of campaigning today to visit previously safe seats in Hampshire - with apocalyptic polls suggesting many will fall to Labour and the Lib Dems. 

A massive Survation poll - also conducted using the MRP method - found Reform splitting the right-wing vote will gift Sir Keir the largest Commons majority in history, while Tory numbers fall to a record low.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride acknowledged that the Conservatives are on track for a dire result. 

He said Labour is almost certain to get an 'extraordinary landslide on a scale that has probably never, ever been seen in this country before'. 

However, the PM insisted Mr Stride had not 'quite' been conceding defeat - telling ITV's This Morning 'what Mel was doing was warning of what a very large Labour majority, unchecked, would mean for people'.

He added: 'I'm fighting hard for every vote.'

Other Tories privately insist that the reception on the doorstep has not been as bad as the polls indicate - and there have been glimmers of a narrowing in recent days, with the Reform surge seemingly ebbing.

Mr Johnson received a rapturous reception as he made a dramatic appearance at the central London rally last night.

During an impassioned speech, Mr Johnson called on voters flirting with backing Reform to 'draw back from the brink'.

He labelled Nigel Farage a 'Kremlin crawler' and unleashed attacks on Labour's 'mandatory wokery' and 'uncontrolled immigration', bluntly adding that people who 'have a few thousand to spare' and 'actually want higher tax' should vote red.

Mr Johnson swiped at Sir Keir saying it was 'way past his bedtime' after the Opposition leader admitted he tries to avoid working past 6pm on Fridays to spend time with his family.

Up until now the ex-PM had only endorsed specific Tory allies with video messages, as tensions linger with Mr Sunak over the latter's resignation triggering his eviction from Downing Street.

The two men still did not appear together on stage last night. 

But playing down the 'trivial' differences between himself and his former Chancellor, Mr Johnson said he was a 'glad when the PM asked for help' and 'could not say no' because they both 'love our country'.

On his first campaign stop of the day in Carmarthenshire, Sir Keir played down chatter about the scale of his victory, insisting that many seats will 'go to the wire'. 

Asked if he was worried about Mr Johnson joining the Tory attack, he said: 'Not in the slightest. I've been arguing that the last 14 years have been about chaos and division - and last night, they wheeled out the architect of chaos and division.

'That just shows the desperate, negative place they've got to in their campaign.'

In his intervention last night, Mr Johnson hit out at Labour's plans to hike taxes and said the party would not take a firm stance against Vladimir Putin, following his invasion of Ukraine. 

He went on to criticise Sir Keir for not being able to explain 'the difference between a man and a woman'. 

'He sits there with his mouth open like a stunned mullet,' he said. 

Mr Johnson, who led the Tories to a landslide victory in 2019 against Jeremy Corbyn, added: 'They can achieve nothing in this election except to usher in the most left-wing Labour government since the war with a huge majority, and we must not let it happen.

'Don't let the Putinistas deliver the Corbynistas. Don't let Putin's pet parrots give this entire country psittacosis - which is a disease you get by the way from cosying up to pet parrots.

'Friends, if you actually - everybody if you actually want higher taxes next week, this year, if you feel you've got a few thousands to spare, then vote Labour on Thursday. If you want uncontrolled immigration and mandatory wokery, and pointless kowtowing to Brussels again, then go right ahead, make my day, vote for Starmer.

'But if you want to protect our democracy and our economy and keep this country strong abroad by spending 2.5 per cent of our GDP on defence which Labour still refuses to commit to, then you know what to do, don't you, everybody?

'There's only one thing to do - vote Conservative on Thursday my friends and I know you will. I know you will.'