godlike personality that has grown around him, that is not seen as invincible any more. russia has faced repeated rounds of western sanctions, but its economy has continued to grow thanks to help from china. it means the mood at russia s equivalent of davos welcome to newsnight. our political panel tonight philip collins, who was tony blair s speech writer and worked alongside sir keir starmer on his 2021 conference speech, and mercy muroki, who is a former policy adviser to the conservative s kemi badenoch. today has been very much about the fall out from last night s tv debate when mr sunak claimed housesholds would be paying £2,000 more in tax if labour win. we questioned energy secretary clare coutinho on newsnight last night straight after the itv debate. clare coutinho, where did you get this £2,000 figure from? because it is not an impartial independent figure, is it, it is your own tory special advisers who have added this up and come up with the sums? no, no, n
important reason why labour doesn t want, isn t talking about tax rises because the labour party is a different position, the labour party always has to win the trust of the people, against the assumption and the accusation it will be profligate. it is not so long ago the labour party was led by a leadership that was free with imaginary money that it was going to spend and so i would endorse what keir starmer and rachel reeves have done, in keeping it tight. late keir starmer and rachel reeves have done, in keeping it tight. done, in keeping it tight. we will back with you done, in keeping it tight. we will back with you shortly. that row over tax emerged in last night s tv debate. the next one is a seven way affair on friday night on bbc one, hosted by mishal husain, and these are the seven people taking part penny mordaunt from the tories, angela raynerfrom labour, stephen flynn snp, rheen ap yoreth from plaid cymru. nigel farage from reform, carla denyer from the greens and d