Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Rishi Sunak steps up attack on Truss tax cuts as poll puts his rival well ahead

Rishi Sunak steps up attack on Truss tax cuts as poll puts his rival well ahead

Former chancellor says opponent’s economic policies risk stoking inflation and pushing up interest rates

Rishi Sunak has launched his strongest attack yet on his rival Liz Truss’s economic policies, claiming her £30bn plans for unfunded tax cuts risk stoking inflation and pushing up interest rates.

His attack came as a new poll of Tory party members gave Truss a commanding lead in the race to become prime minister.

Tax and spending has become the key battleground in the hard-fought contest, with Sunak insisting that cutting taxes immediately, as Truss has promised, would risk exacerbating the cost of living crisis.

Polling of Tory members by YouGov published on Thursday put Truss significantly ahead, by 62% to 38%. With ballot papers expected to drop in the next few days, the candidates will take part in 12 hustings across the country before a result is announced on 5 September.

Sunak has repeatedly portrayed himself as the candidate willing to have a “grownup conversation” about the economy instead of telling what he has dismissed as “fairytales”. Asked about the impact of Truss’s tax cut plans, Sunak said: “Yes, I think it would be inflation.”

With inflation already at a 40-year high, he told LBC: “My strong point of view is if the government goes on a huge borrowing spree, that is only going to make that situation worse. And that will mean that the problem will last longer.”

He pointed to the potential impact on homeowners, saying: “It’s going to push up their mortgage rates, if interest rates have to go up very high to deal with that.”

Truss doubled down on her insistence that her tax-cutting plans – which include reversing the recent national insurance increase, and cancelling a rise in corporation tax – were affordable and would “decrease inflation”.

Speaking on a campaign visit to Peterborough, Truss told reporters she would still implement Boris Johnson’s social care cap, which the national insurance rise was earmarked to fund.

“We can afford it within our budgets. We didn’t have to do the national insurance rise. It’s still the case that, with my plans … we can start paying back debt within three years,” she said.

The cap, due to come in next year, will limit to £86,000 the amount that an individual is forced to spend on their own care.

With both candidates claiming they are best placed to beat Keir Starmer’s Labour party, Truss also claimed Sunak’s tax increases risked triggering a recession that could lose the Tories the next election.

“I think the problem is that if we continue with our current economic policy, which is forecast to lead to a recession, it will be very hard for Conservatives to win an election,” she said.

Truss also said she would seek private-sector sponsorship to fund a new Royal Yacht – a £200m project Johnson had planned to pay for with taxpayers’ money.

“I support the idea of promoting our trade around the world. What I would be seeking is to get investment into a yacht looking to the private sector to assist with that, making it financially viable,” she said.

Labour insisted neither candidate would offer a fresh start after 12 years of Conservative government. The shadow chief secretary, Pat McFadden, said: “Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss offer more of the same. They are the continuity candidates. Neither of them has a plan for dealing with our stagnant economy – in fact, they have both presided over it.”

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, said: “While Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss argue amongst themselves, people are suffering because of the tax rises they brought in. We’re stuck with a zombie government and ministers focusing on the leadership campaign instead of doing their jobs.”

Liz Truss at her campaign office in London.


Analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested Truss’s promises were ultimately likely to lead to public spending cuts. “They will mean higher borrowing or less public spending, or some combination,” it said.

Responding to Truss’s suggestion that she could rewrite the government’s fiscal rules to open the way to more spending, the IFS analysis added: “In this context it is always important to remember that, whatever a chosen set of self-imposed fiscal rules might allow in the short term, in the end, lower taxes do mean lower spending.”

The former Conservative chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said he was concerned about Truss’s plans. “The thing that worries me most about it is, what does it do for the sustainability of the public finances?” he said.

He said spending cuts would be extremely difficult in the current circumstances. “The spending pressures are immense, and only going to get greater,” he said. “The next election will, I suspect, be fought more on public services than it will on tax rates.”

As well as highlighting her tax cut pledges, Truss promised to review the possibility of treating households as a single entity for tax purposes, to incentivise stay-at-home parents and carers.

Speaking during a visit to Little Miracles, one of a network of largely self-funded centres caring for children with disabilities and life-limiting conditions, she said she would specifically review the taxation of families.

“Hardworking families are the bedrock of a stable society, and one of my top priorities as prime minister would be easing the tax burden on families. They don’t just look after themselves, but also build communities, charities and even businesses,” she said.

The Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “Families across this country are crying out for affordable childcare so that they don’t have to choose between their career and their kids. Instead of helping them and investing in provision, Liz Truss seems to think taxes should be used to make women stay home instead. It shows you this Tory party wants to take Britain back to the 1950s, not help everyone thrive in the 2020s.”

In his LBC interview, Sunak repeatedly stressed his family’s relatively humble background, and described himself as a “practising Hindu”, saying he had returned to the temple his family still attends in Southampton recently.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Budapest Post
Close
0:00
0:00
Spain soccer kiss: Furore grows as prosecutors launch probe against federation chief
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Greek PM offers tourists affected by wildfires a free stay in Rhodes next year.
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
How “peacekeepers” at the UN spend our American tax dollars.
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
Swedish Embassy in Baghdad Engulfed in Flames Amidst a Firestorm of Protests
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Muslim Tycoon Asif Aziz Receives Approval for the Transformation of the iconic London Trocadero Landmark into Mosque
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Hospitalized Due to Dehydration Amidst Summer Heatwave
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
×