Sunak builds suspense for tax vanishing act
SKETCH
RISHI Sunak strived to come across as a tax-cutter at heart as he presented his Spring Statement on the economy.
Many Tory MPs had been left disgruntled by the eyewatering emergency tax rises he imposed over the last two years. But the Chancellor’s speech did everything possible to persuade them he is the man to reverse that trend.
“Watch your back, Boris,” a Labour MP quipped as the ambitious Chancellor rose to his feet, leaving the Prime Minister quaking with laughter.
Ignoring catcalls from the opposition, Mr Sunak launched into his rapid-fire delivery, focusing on promises of “security” in an uncertain world.
He repeatedly boasted of his tax-cutting objective and said his “overarching ambition” was to lower levies by the next general election, expected in 2024.
His head whipped from side to side as he spoke. He seemed to be checking Tory ranks for signs of approval.
“Only the Conservatives can be trusted with taxpayers’ money,” he said.
To prove his point, the Chancellor pulled off a little budgetary trickery.
He shaved a few billion pounds off the National Insurance hike taxpayers are bracing themselves for and then presented it as a tax cut.
It felt like a mugger leaving his victim with the bus fare home.
Mr Sunak further sweetened the mix with a promise to wipe 1p off income tax in a couple of years’ time. Unfortunately, forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility predict that most Britons will suffer a nasty drop in living standards before that tax cut arrives.
Mr Sunak’s keynote speeches are always refreshingly straightforward, avoiding the laboured jokes and gimmicks that many of his predecessors favoured. Yesterday’s effort was no different – delivered with his usual brisk and assured style.
In the chamber at least, it went down well with Tory MPs, who drowned out the Chancellor’s peroration with enthusiastic cheers. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, inset, delivered a withering response from Labour, taking Mr Sunak to task for his lengthy record of monster tax rises.
She even made the startling claim that Labour would deliver a “real Brexit dividend” if she ever takes charge at the Treasury.
But her attack floundered with a lame gag, as she mocked social media-savvy Mr Sunak as “Ted Heath – with an Instagram account”.
For all his faults, Heath did get to be prime minister.
If Mr Sunak does manage to deliver some tax-cutting magic before the next election, he just might do the same.