Hague accuses Blair of bare-faced lie on taxes

Prime Minister's Question time (March 16) exploded in a row as Hague accused Blair of a 'total, bare-faced election lie'.

The tax burden dominated an angry Prime Minister's Question Time (March 15) as Conservative Leader, William Hague, accused the Prime Minister of breaking his election promise not to raise taxes.

Hague claimed this was a 'total, bare-faced election lie' that was 'systematic, dishonest and deliberately misleading'. The heated exchange came a day after reports that the Prime Minister's press secretary had admitted - for the first time - that the tax burden had risen.

Citing a range of people who had suffered from rising taxes, Mr Hague referred to the 'self-employed' in a veiled reference to IR35.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Hague said: "The Prime Minister still will not admit what is clearly true: he has broken that whole long list of election promises. Now that he is letting his press secretary speak on the record, he will have to get used to this problem because we can see that his answers are less honest than those of his press secretary. "Less honest than Alastair Campbell" are not words that any of us want on our tombstones.

"His Government have increased taxes on mortgages and marriages, petrol and pensions, savers and self-employed, large businesses and small, air travel and insurance, and home buying and charities. The result is not only that taxes have gone up, but that they are continuing to rise."