Truss: I don’t think anybody in Tory party likes idea of tax rise

LIZ Truss yesterday hinted at her hatred of the national insurance rise as she said all Tories were unhappy about it.

The Foreign Secretary insisted the Conservatives are a ‘low-tax party’ but the rise was necessary to ‘balance the books’ after Covid.

Ministers have faced a clamour of calls to rethink the 1.25 percentage point rise in contributions this April, when families face soaring bills and tax increases. The Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have insisted the rise, which would raise £12billion every year, is vital to fund the NHS backlog and fix the social care system.

Miss Truss told friends last year that she briefly considered resigning over the hike – believing the Chancellor should have borrowed money instead. On LBC radio yesterday, she was asked whether she was happy with the rise going ahead.

She said: ‘I don’t think anybody is happy with the idea of taxation in the Conservative Party. We are a low-tax party, but we have spent a lot of money during the Covid crisis and we have to make sure that we are able to keep our finances in good shape. Obviously the Chancellor is responsible for making sure that we have the right fiscal policy to address that.’

Asked if there was any room to move the rise back from April, she said: ‘We spent £400billion providing support during Covid and the reality is that does need to be paid for. The Chancellor has to look at the whole picture, he has to make sure we are able to balance the books and retain our hard-won financial credibility.’ The Government announced the national insurance increase last year.

But since then energy prices have rocketed, inflation has risen to its highest level in 30 years and interest rates could rise significantly in the coming months.