Tax cuts and pensioner offer to form basis of Tory manifesto – but Labour decries ‘most expensive panic attack in history’
The Conservatives will put their offer to pensioners at the heart of their election manifesto when it is published today.
The manifesto will reiterate already-announced pledges to introduce the so-called “triple lock plus” for pensioners – which will create a new “age-related” tax-free allowance – as well as promises not to increase major taxes.
Its publication follows a torrid four days for the prime minister, who has been forced to quash rumours he considered resigning over the backlash he received over his early departure from the D-Day commemorations last week.
In an attempt to get back on the front foot, Mr Sunak will stress that as the “party of Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson” the Tories believe in “sound money” and will ensure “we have lower welfare so we can lower taxes”.
Watch the Conservative manifesto launch live on Sky News at 11.30
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sunak also revealed some new manifesto pledges to try to help people get on the housing ladder.
He wrote: “Owning a home makes people more financially secure, gives them a stake in society and, as Mrs Thatcher said, is one of the main bulwarks of individual freedom.”
As well as confirming the abolition of stamp duty on properties up to a value of £425,000 for first time buyers, the manifesto will promise capital gains tax relief for landlords who sell to their existing tenants and a new Help to Buy scheme.
Described by Mr Sunak as “transformational”, it will provide an equity loan of up to 20% towards the cost of a new build home. There would also be a five percent deposit for first time buyers “on terms they can afford”.
Other policies Mr Sunak will repeat at the launch today include:
• Moving the threshold to pay high income child benefit charge for single-earner families to £120,000, up from £60,000 currently
• A guarantee not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT
• A workplace pension guarantee to not introduce any new taxes on pensions or increase existing ones for the whole of the next parliament
• A commitment not to change number of council tax bands, undertake a council tax revaluation or cut council tax discounts
• An ambition to abolish national insurance when financially responsible to do so
Labour has denounced the pledges as a “desperate series of unfunded commitments” and said the manifesto amounts to “the most expensive panic attack in history”.
But the prime minister will attempt to draw a key dividing line with the Labour Party by claiming that Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to match his commitment on the triple lock plus amounts to a new “retirement tax”.
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PM won’t quit over D-Day mistake
He is expected to say: “We Conservatives have a plan to give you financial security. We will enable working people to keep more of the money you earn because you have earned it and have the right to choose what to spend it on.
“Keir Starmer takes a very different view. He says he’s a socialist, and we know what socialists always do: take more of your money.
“We are the party of Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson, a party, unlike Labour, that believes in sound money.
“In this party, we believe that it is morally right that those who can work do work, and that hard work is rewarded with people being able to keep more of their own money. We will ensure that we have lower welfare so we can lower taxes.”
While mandatory national service for 18-year-olds was among the first pledges unveiled by Mr Sunak that is intended to reach younger voters, it is policies aimed at the so-called “grey vote” that has garnered the most attention so far.
Other key policy pledges from Mr Sunak include an expansion of levelling up funding with a pledge to give 30 towns £20m each and plans to boost community care by expanding Pharmacy First and building 100 new GP surgeries and modernising 150 more.
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The headline triple lock plus policy will see the income tax personal allowance rise for pensioners, giving them a tax cut worth around £95 in 2025-26, rising to £275 in 2029-30.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, rejected the Conservatives’ attack on his party for not implementing their policies, arguing it was not “the Labour Party’s job to copy them”.
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“It is our responsibility to call that out and that is what we are doing today,” he added. “Whatever the Tories announce tomorrow, the money is not there.”
Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson, said the Tory manifesto “isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on”.
“The only guarantee they’re good for is unmitigated failure,” she said.
“The wheels have already fallen off their campaign, and the promises they make are just a desperate attempt to rescue Rishi Sunak.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’
The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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