After Rishi’s Dishes, brace for Sunak’s soaring taxes
... but he vows that Budget will not be a ‘horror show’
RISHI Sunak warned yesterday that the Budget will bring tax rises – but insisted that steps to balance the books would not be ‘a horror show with no end in sight’.
Addressing Tory MPs, the Chancellor said ministers must ‘be honest with the British people about the challenges we face’.
He said the Treasury will have to ‘do some difficult things’ to shore up the nation’s finances in this autumn’s Budget. Reports suggest he is planning tax hikes of up to £30billion, with fuel duty, capital gains tax, corporation tax and even the pension triple lock identified as potential targets.
With Britain’s deficit expected to top £300billion this year – double the level seen at the height of the 2008 financial crisis – Mr Sunak told colleagues that ‘ we cannot, will not and must not surrender our position as the party of economic competence and sound finance’. He continued: ‘If we argue that there is no limit to what we can spend, that we can simply borrow our way out of any hole, then what is the difference between us and the Labour Party?’
Details of his speech emerged after Mr Sunak was photographed in Downing Street clutching his notes. Visible passages included a pledge that the Budget would not kick off a never-ending ‘horror show’ of tax hikes.
The gaffe represented a rare mis-step following a string of PR victories for the Chancellor, whose popular Eat Out To Help Out scheme – known to many as Rishi’s Dishes – concluded on Monday.
Mr Sunak made light of the incident, later tweeting a photo of himself on the Tube with the caption: ‘ Got my notes on my phone this time.’
The Treasury confirmed that he had told the meeting of new Tory MPs: ‘ We will need to do some difficult things, but I promise you, if we trust one another we will be able to overcome the short-term challenges.
‘This doesn’t mean a horror show of tax rises with no end in sight. But it does mean treating the British people with respect, being honest with them about the challenges we face, and showing them how we plan to correct our public finances and give our country the dynamic, low-tax economy we all want to see.’
His comments come amid a growing Tory backlash over mooted tax hikes, which include a 5p rise in fuel duty. Work and Pensions
Secretary Therese Coffey said yesterday that taxes should be cut, not raised, to stimulate the economy.
‘In the past, when we have actually cut tax rates, we have seen [income from] taxes increase,’ she said.
Former Cabinet minister Sir John Redwood also urged Mr Sunak to resist shortterm tax rises, saying: ‘The best way to get the deficit down is to get business working properly and get a proper return to work, rather than blundering in with tax rises that might even produce less revenue.’
Boris Johnson echoed Mr Sunak’s warnings at the meeting with new MPs yesterday. ‘I know it’s been tough,’ he said. ‘I’ve got to warn you... it’s about to get tougher. The waters are about to get choppier.
‘But we are going to deal with it. And when we build back better and faster and greener we will create a platform for the dynamism and innovation and enterprise to flourish and to create new jobs.’
MPs at a separate meeting attempted to grill Mr Johnson about the growing influence of Dominic Cummings, with a member of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers raising concerns that the Prime Minister was becoming ‘a prisoner of No 10’. Mr Johnson is said to have swerved their question.
‘The waters are about to get choppier’