Top of the agenda is action to address the unacceptable deterioration in service standards at HMRC with confidence in the service has fallen to an all-time low.

The Labour Party wants to see more action on tackling tax avoidance but has not allocated specific funds for HMRC to increase staff numbers. Despite this it expects HMRC to recover £6bn in unpaid tax to fund public services. This could be a challenge with the tax gap remaining stubbornly high at £39.8bn for 2022-23, up 5% on the previous year, driven by tax avoidance, errors and compliance issues by small businesses.

Fiona Fernie, partner, private client at Blick Rothenberg said: ‘Labour party has pledged to improve public services largely based on funds raised by “closing the tax gap".

‘