A Sky News presenter clashed with a senior Tory minister after she claimed the government is cutting the tax burden.
Laura Trott made the claim on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips just days after the Autumn Statement.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he was bringing in “the biggest package of tax cuts since the 1980s” as he reduced National Insurance and business taxes.
But it later emerged that the overall tax burden is set to hit a post-war high by the end of the 2020s.
Despite that, Trott said: “We’ve got to pay back our Covid debts and we’ve had to take difficult decisions in order to do that.
“But as a result of those decisions, inflation is now down, we have turned a corner and that is why we can take steps to bring the tax burden down.”
A clearly-exasperated Phillips said: “But you’re not bringing the tax burden down. Let’s have a look at what you’re actually doing.”
Pointing to a graph showing the tax burden continuing to rise, he said: “Look at this. You know this graph better than anybody, you’re the chief secretary to the Treasury. We are now at the highest tax burden since 1948 - that’s before I was born and dinosaurs roamed the earth then.
“I mean honestly, you are increasing taxes not cutting them.”
Trott replied: “What we did at the Autumn Statement this week is the biggest tax-cutting measures since the 1980s. They brought the burden down by 0.7 [% of GDP].
“But we know what we’ve had to pay back our Covid debts, that is something that the Labour Party opposed, but we are now taking action to bring down the tax burden.”