Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer went head to head in their first TV debate of the election campaign on Tuesday night (June 4).
Tax, immigration and the NHS were covered in the hour long debate, broadcast on ITV.
The current prime minister opened by promising to cut taxes, protect pensions and reduce immigration.
In response to a question about the cost of living crisis, Sunak said: "My priority has always been to support you. Our economy is growing again, wages are rising, and crucially, we are able to now start cutting your taxes, but I know you're only just starting to see the benefits of that."
Starmer hit back accusing Sunak of calling the election now because he knew inflation and energy bills would go back up again.
The similarities between the plans of the two leaders was shown when the pair were asked by presenter Julie Etchingham to raise their hand if they would not raise income tax, raise national insurance and, other than Labour on private schools, raise VAT in the next parliament.
Sunak claimed Labour's pledges would result in a £2,000 tax hike for all households.
This was called "nonsense" by Starmer who accused the Conservative party of coming to the figure by giving false Labour policies to civil servants and then coming to that number.
Responding to a question about where the money for Labour pledges will come from, Starmer said from tax on private schools and closing equity loopholes.
He said: "We will raise specific taxes, and we've been really clear what they are. We've already dealt with the tax break on private schools. We want to end the non-dom status completely, I think the super rich should be paying their tax.
"I want to get rid of the equity loopholes that are there, again for the super rich, and I think the oil and gas companies should be paying their fair share towards our energy. So we will raise those but we won't raise the others."
The party leaders clashed on the non-dom regime, with Sunak claiming it has been scrapped and Starmer saying it had not been removed in full with a loophole still in place.
Sunak touched on his "triple lock plus" plans which were announced last week and would see the personal allowance for pensioners increase by either 2.5 per cent, in line with average earnings or inflation - whichever is higher.
He said this would "ensure the state pension is never eligible for tax".
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "There was much discussion of the fact that the state pension risks being subject to tax, and that the triple lock plus would provide protection.
"It’s worth bearing in mind that the risk of more state pensions being taxed is the result of the freezing of income tax thresholds, which neither party has pledged to address.
"The frozen personal allowance hasn’t just damaged pensioners. Those on low incomes also face a horrible tax bill for the first time, and already 2.1 million people have been dragged into paying income tax because of it."
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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