Cut taxes now to save your job, Boris is told
Top Tories urge PM to act as he bids to ‘draw a line’ after revolt
BORIS Johnson was warned last night that he needs to cut taxes to save his job as he urged Tory MPs to ‘draw a line’ under the revolt against his leadership.
The Prime Minister told the Cabinet yesterday he wanted to get back to the ‘fundamental Conservative instinct’ of cutting taxes as the next general election approaches.
It came after Mr Johnson won Monday night’s bruising confidence vote by the narrower than expected margin of 211 to 148.
He stressed to Cabinet colleagues that delivering tax cuts would help produce ‘considerable growth in employment and economic progress’. The PM also ordered ministers to bring forward new initiatives to slash Government spending in order to free up cash for tax cuts.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will tonight repeat his pledge to introduce ‘a range of tax cuts’ for business in the autumn in order to encourage investment. But senior Tories warned it was now time to turn the rhetoric about cuts into reality in order to boost growth, help families with the cost of living and restore Tory fortunes. It came as:
Rebel MPs were urged to ‘knuckle down’ and accept the result of Monday’s vote amid warnings that continuing divisions could usher in a Labour-SNP coalition.
Plans for a snap Cabinet reshuffle were shelved as Downing Street digested the scale of the revolt.
A key ally of rebel ringleader Jeremy Hunt said that efforts to depose the Prime Minister were ‘not over’.
Leading rebel Tobias Ellwood warned that top Tories were ‘looking at’ changes to party rules to enable another attempt against the PM’s leadership this year.
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost said the PM needed to ‘change direction’ in the wake of the confidence vote. He insisted: ‘We’re delivering an economic policy that’s not going to deliver prosperity and wealth. If he can change that he can get on to a different path and save his premiership and Government.’
The Tory peer told the BBC that increases in national insurance and corporation tax should be reversed. He said: ‘It is not Conservative
to be raising taxes, and it is undermining growth and prosperity. We need to improve productivity and investment, and not weaken it.’ Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the Government’s agenda now had to include ‘getting taxes down and getting the economy going.’ At the Cabinet meeting, Mr Johnson said: ‘We are able now to draw a line under the issues that our opponents want to talk about.’ No 10 acknowledged that the tax burden is ‘higher than it has been’. The PM’s spokesman said: ‘It’s always about getting the balance right and the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have been very clear that, as we move away from these unique challenges of the global pandemic and the war in Europe, the intention is to further reduce taxes.’