Tory members want next PM to cut taxes by spending less rather than borrowing more

MANY more Conservative members favour reducing government spending to fund tax cuts rather than borrowing more, a poll suggests.

According to the survey, almost half of Tory members believe the tax cuts promised by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss should be funded by reducing money spent on public services.

When asked to choose between funding the tax cuts by reducing spending or increasing borrowing, 47 per cent chose less spending while 27 per cent opted for more borrowing.

One in four (26 per cent) said they did not know, or preferred not to give a preference.

The survey of 500 Conservative members was commissioned by Conservative Way Forward, the recently relaunched small-state caucus led by Steve Baker, the former minister, and carried out by People Polling, a new firm led by Matthew Goodwin, the pollster and academic.

Mr Baker said spending cuts should be implemented alongside tax cuts to “inspire growth”.

Ms Truss has pledged to reverse the National Insurance increase and planned corporation tax hike in the autumn, while Mr Sunak has said he would cut VAT on energy bills and reduce income tax from 2024. But both candidates have avoided committing to significant reductions in spending.

Instead, the Foreign Secretary said she would divert hundreds of millions of pounds from quangos to frontline services, and the former chancellor has said that he would “reduce the rate of growth in public spending”.

Mr Sunak has criticised Ms Truss for her willingness to borrow more to fund immediate tax cuts.

Overall, 27 per cent of members said taxes in Britain were “much too high”, while 39 per cent said taxes were “somewhat high”. Only 22 per cent said current tax levels were “about right” while 7 per cent said they were somewhat low or too low.

The poll also found that 73 per cent of members were concerned that excessive government borrowing and spending could “bankrupt Britain” in the years ahead, with only 18 per cent indicating that such a scenario was not a concern.

Mr Baker, who chairs Conservative Way Forward, said: “All Conservatives know that taxes today are far too high. It’s not people’s mortgages, rent or fuel bills that are their biggest monthly outgoings. It’s their tax bill – the cost of running today’s vast state, and Liz is absolutely right that cutting taxes must be an urgent priority to inspire growth and help families today. But tax cuts are not the only answer.

“Members quite rightly want the next PM to cut public spending to fund tax cuts, specifically the millions the state hands out in grants to public bodies which they end up using – inadvertently or otherwise – to fund politically motivated campaigns which exhaust us with politics, divide the country and cancel people’s genuinely held beliefs.

“The next government needs to cut this spending so that we free individuals, communities, families and businesses so that they can get on with creating wealth and serving each other once again.”

A tax-cutting “charter” published by CWF last month rebuts claims subsequently made by Mr Sunak that immediate tax cuts would worsen inflation.

The document, written by Julian Jessop, an influential economist, adds: “In fact, they could actually reduce it”.