We must cut tax, Johnson tells party faithful

THE Conservatives must make the case “for a low-tax global Britain”, and fight the next election on a pledge to cut taxes, Boris Johnson said last night, as he forecast a Tory recovery in the polls.

Mr Johnson also urged Rishi Sunak to press ahead with a law to override the Northern Ireland Protocol and resolve the Brexit impasse in Northern Ireland.

The former prime minister was speaking at the Carlton Club, the Tory Party’s spiritual base in Mayfair, where he unveiled a portrait of himself.

The rallying cry to supporters is Mr Johnson’s most politically charged speech since he was forced out of office by his own MPS last summer and comes amid rumours of a possible future challenge against the Prime Minister.

They will be seen as putting pressure on Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy

Hunt to start to cut the 70-year high tax burden. Senior Treasury sources have already strongly suggested there are no tax cuts planned for March’s Budget due to the weak state of the public finances.

Mr Johnson told club members that the party must “never give in, keep fighting, keep backing the Government – keep making the case for levelling up, for opportunities and for a dynamic low-tax global Britain. That is how we will win again”.

He said that “the Conservative Party will recover”, adding: “Because when the moment of real electoral decision approaches – and it will – people will realise that there is only one party that yearns to reduce the burden of tax.”

On Brexit, he said there was “only one party, the Conservatives, that believes in the union with Northern Ireland and will pass the necessary laws to protect the economic integrity of the UK”.

He added there was “only one party that will dare to do what is necessary to disrupt the evil gangs that send people across the Channel in unseaworthy vessels – by sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda. And there is only one party that really believes in Brexit – and its potential to transform the economy of this country. And only one party that will continue to make use of Brexit freedoms from financial services to genetic engineering.”

He said that “when people realise this – the political dynamic is going to change. There is no desire to vote for Keir Starmer, for Sir Crasheroonie Snoozefest”.

‘The party will recover... people will realise there is only one party that yearns to reduce the tax burden’