The Conservatives election campaign
is in chaos as the extent of their millionaire-backing is revealed, Labour
Leader Jeremy Corbyn says today.

In the latest in a string of errors
and about-turns, Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon’s pledge that people would
pay no more tax under the Tories was immediately contradicted by Theresa May,
who refused to rule out a tax hike on working people, through rises in income
tax or higher National Insurance contributions.

The Tories were already reeling from
the chaos and confusion over their plans for social care and where they would
set the cap they originally said they had rejected, and were forced to withdraw
their school breakfasts policy after it was exposed they had only set aside
6.8p per meal.

The threat of further Tory tax rises
on working people comes as it was revealed just 49 individuals have donated
more than a third of all Tory party funding since Theresa May became Prime
Minister.

In contrast, Labour’s manifesto
clearly commits to no income tax, National Insurance or VAT rises for 95 per
cent of taxpayers, with big businesses and those paid more than £80,000 a year
asked to pay a bit more to reverse years of underinvestment in our NHS, schools
and other public services.

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Leader, said:

“First social care and school
breakfasts, now the Tories are in chaos over their tax plans for the super-rich,
as it is revealed they are entirely dependent on them for their funding. While
Michael Fallon claims there will be no tax rises, Theresa May refuses to rule
them out. You can’t trust a word the Tories say.

“Labour is the low tax party for the
many while the Conservatives are the low tax party for the few. We won’t raise
taxes for 95 per cent of taxpayers but will ask high earners and big businesses
to pay a little more so we can give nurses and other public servants a pay
rise, and invest in the public services we all rely on.”

Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s Joint National Campaign
Co-ordinator, said:

“The Tories are bankrolled by
millionaire bankers, tycoons and hedge fund bosses – the very people they’ve
given tax breaks to while everyone else pays more. In contrast, Labour is
funded by thousands and thousands of people making small donations because they
want a better society for everyone.

“Labour’s plans are fully costed and
fully set out in our manifesto for everyone to see. The only numbers in the
Tory manifesto are the page numbers. The wheels are coming of the
Conservatives’ election campaign, with Theresa May hiding from the public,
refusing to debate Jeremy Corbyn, and backsliding on social care, NHS and
schools funding, and now their tax plans.”

Labour is
calling on the Tories to come clean on how many pensioners will be hit by their
plans for a dementia tax and means testing for Winter Fuel Payments.

With six
days to go until voting, Theresa May has still not ended the uncertainty facing
millions of pensioners.

Tory
plans to scrap universal Winter Fuel Payments could hit as many as 10.8 million
pensioners, according to a Labour analysis of Pension Credit data.

Meanwhile,
the Tories are still refusing to give a figure for the cap they will put on
their dementia tax, the name given to their plan to force people to pay for
social care with their homes.

An
analysis by the Labour Party shows the effect of the Tory dementia
tax on older people living in a house worth the average UK price of £217,500 if
the cap is set at £72,000 or £100,000 and they find they need home care at the
capped level.

At a cap
of £100,000, a person in this situation needing the capped amount of care would
lose 42 percent of the value of their estate. The more someone’s house is
worth, the lower the percentage they would lose.

Labour
has set out its pledges to older people – maintaining the triple-lock on state
pensions to protect incomes, investing £37 billion into the NHS and £8 billion
into social care over the next parliament and protecting Winter Fuel Payments
and free bus passes.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
Labour Party,
commenting on this analysis, said:

“It is staggering that just six
days from polling day millions of pensioners still don’t know what’s in store
for them if they are unlucky enough to get dementia or any other condition that
needs care in the home.

“The dementia tax is itself unfair
but what’s made matters even worse is the way Theresa May announced a cap and
then failed to say how much it would be.

“Alongside this, older people face
the additional uncertainty of not knowing who will be eligible for a Winter
Fuel Payment. The introduction of a means test could mean more than ten million
people losing the payment.

“Theresa May’s only offer to
pensioners is insecurity and cuts. Labour will stand up for older people by
maintaining the triple-lock on state pensions, investing £8 billion into social
care over the next parliament and protecting winter fuel payments and free bus
passes.”

More than 70 percent of the tap water in Beijing’s main urban areas comes from the Yangtze River, thanks to a huge water diversion project that was designed to ease water shortages in the north.

Beijing has received 2.28 billion cubic meters of Yangtze water since the south-to-north water diversion project began pumping water into the city in December 2014, Beijing Waterworks Group said in a report Saturday.

It said the project had increased Beijing’s water supply capacity to 3.72 million cubic meters a day, ending the water shortage the capital experienced every every summer.

Before Yangtze water diverted to Beijing, the city’s daily supply capacity was 3.2 million cubic meters at most and water sources, mainly from underground, were susceptible to calcium and magnesium salts.

At least 11 million people in Beijing have benefited from the water diversion project so far, according to Beijing Waterworks Group.

“Residents in high-rise apartment buildings used to suffer water crunches in summer. On some of the worst days, there was no water for cooking or washing,” said Fang Yajun, chief of the water authority in Tongzhou District, east Beijing.

“Their problems will soon be solved, with a new waterworks that will open this summer to supply 200,000 cubic meters of water daily,” he said.

The new waterworks in Tongzhou District, the city’s “subsidiary administrative center,” is fed by Yangtze water and will double Tongzhou’s daily supply capacity, said Fang.

Among the 2.28 billion cubic meters of Yangtze water pumped to Beijing since the end of 2014, about 1.58 billion cubic meters has gone to water supply companies. The rest is stored in reservoirs or used as groundwater, river and lake supplies.