Sunak says people understand why government cannot cut taxes now because they’re ‘not idiots’
The most significant moment in Rishi Sunak’s Q&A came when he said that people understand why the government cannot cut taxes now because “you’re not idiots”.
It was a throwaway remark, and it came in the course of an answer in which Sunak stressed his belief in low taxes, and his determination to cut taxes eventually, but it probably set alarm bells ringing in the No 10 media operation.
Why? Because this morning the Daily Mail splashed on a story that quoted approvingly Tory MPs who are saying Sunak should cut taxes. The Mail also has an editorial saying it is “dismaying that the chancellor is not considering tax cuts in March’s budget”.
The Mail splash, and its editorial, were prompted by my colleague Pippa Crerar’s story yesterday saying that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is planning a slimmed down budget that will not contain tax cuts.
In its story, the Mail quotes Tory MPs alarmed by this news. It says:
Former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘We have got to get growth going. This Government will sink without trace if we don’t get growth going by the middle of this year – we won’t have a hope of winning the election. We are already over-taxed and it is quite clear we cannot tax ourselves out of a recession.’
Fellow Tory Sir John Redwood also warned tax cuts were essential – and said some could even boost overall revenues by triggering growth. He added: ‘We cannot address the issue of growth without some tax cuts. They must be affordable, of course – but the best way to bring borrowing down and boost revenues is to grow the economy.’
The Mail also says that Sunak’s two predecessors as PM, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, both want taxes cut.
In his Q&A, when asked about tax cuts, Sunak said:
When I was chancellor I also really preferred it when the prime minister didn’t comment on tax policy.
I’m a Conservative, I want to cut your taxes … I wish I could do that tomorrow, quite frankly, but the reason we can’t is because of all the reasons you know. You’re not idiots, you know what’s happened.
Sunak said the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had left the public finances “not where it needs to be”. He said that he wanted to get a “grip” on inflation, get interest rates down and make the economy stronger, so that the NHS and schools can be well funded. He went on:
Trust me, that’s what I’m going to do for you this year, that’s what we’re going to do while I’m prime minister and if we do those things we will be able to cut your taxes.
When Sunak used the word “idiots”, he almost certainly did not intend to refer to Tory colleagues like Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood. But his comment could be linked to them quite easily, which makes it potentially perilous.
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Sunak defends taking jet to Blackpool, saying he needs to do ‘lots of things in one day’
Rishi Sunak has been criticised for taking a domestic flight in an RAF jet for the third time in 10 days, my colleague Kiran Stacey reports.
Commenting on Sunak taking a flight to Blackpool today, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said:
Rishi Sunak’s expensive private jet habit is costing the environment and the taxpayer dear.
Instead of catching the train like the rest of us, he’s swanning around like a washed-up A-lister courtesy of the public, making a mockery of his own government’s ‘zero-jet’ strategy.
During his Q&A earlier Sunak defended his decision to fly to Lancashire, instead of going by train. He said:
I travel around so I can do lots of things in one day, I’m not travelling around just for my own enjoyment – although this is very enjoyable, of course.
Trust me, I’m working as hard as I can to deliver for you and I travel to make myself as effective as possible.
Starmer criticises Sunak for not attending Davos, saying UK has been absent on global stage in recent yearas
Keir Starmer has criticised Rishi Sunak for not attending the World Economic Forum event at Davos. Responding to a question at a panel event, Starmer said:
Yes, I think our prime minister should have showed up at Davos.
One of the things that’s been impressed on me since I’ve been here is the absence of the United Kingdom.
That’s why it’s really important that I’m here and that our shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is here – as a statement of intent that, should there be a change of government, and I hope there will be, the United Kingdom will play its part on the global stage in a way I think it probably hasn’t in recent years.
Jessica Murray
There was lots of anger in Nottingham today as it was revealed the Midlands city missed out on the government’s latest round of levelling up funding.
The city had submitted three bids, including one to help turn the derelict Broadmarsh shopping centre into a performance and food space, totalling £57m, but all three were rejected.
Alex Norris, Labour MP for Nottingham North and shadow levelling up minister, said the announcement was “just the latest instalment of disappointment from the government on levelling up”.
He told the local democracy reporting service:
It’s exceptionally disappointing to see that our city’s bids have not succeeded. The government has no interest in supporting Nottingham.
Nevertheless our ideas are good ones and we will keep fighting to see them become reality.
The Nottingham city council leader, David Mellen, said it was “a big disappointment” the bids had been turned down when the city “so clearly needs” levelling up funding. He said:
All three Nottingham bids were very strong and clearly aligned to what the Levelling Up Fund is meant to be about. There has been huge support for the exciting new vision for Broad Marsh we unveiled just over a year ago.
Mellen said the council would “explore alternative public and private funding options” so the plans can still go ahead.
Sunak says people understand why government cannot cut taxes now because they’re ‘not idiots’
The most significant moment in Rishi Sunak’s Q&A came when he said that people understand why the government cannot cut taxes now because “you’re not idiots”.
It was a throwaway remark, and it came in the course of an answer in which Sunak stressed his belief in low taxes, and his determination to cut taxes eventually, but it probably set alarm bells ringing in the No 10 media operation.
Why? Because this morning the Daily Mail splashed on a story that quoted approvingly Tory MPs who are saying Sunak should cut taxes. The Mail also has an editorial saying it is “dismaying that the chancellor is not considering tax cuts in March’s budget”.
The Mail splash, and its editorial, were prompted by my colleague Pippa Crerar’s story yesterday saying that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is planning a slimmed down budget that will not contain tax cuts.
In its story, the Mail quotes Tory MPs alarmed by this news. It says:
Former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘We have got to get growth going. This Government will sink without trace if we don’t get growth going by the middle of this year – we won’t have a hope of winning the election. We are already over-taxed and it is quite clear we cannot tax ourselves out of a recession.’
Fellow Tory Sir John Redwood also warned tax cuts were essential – and said some could even boost overall revenues by triggering growth. He added: ‘We cannot address the issue of growth without some tax cuts. They must be affordable, of course – but the best way to bring borrowing down and boost revenues is to grow the economy.’
The Mail also says that Sunak’s two predecessors as PM, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, both want taxes cut.
In his Q&A, when asked about tax cuts, Sunak said:
When I was chancellor I also really preferred it when the prime minister didn’t comment on tax policy.
I’m a Conservative, I want to cut your taxes … I wish I could do that tomorrow, quite frankly, but the reason we can’t is because of all the reasons you know. You’re not idiots, you know what’s happened.
Sunak said the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had left the public finances “not where it needs to be”. He said that he wanted to get a “grip” on inflation, get interest rates down and make the economy stronger, so that the NHS and schools can be well funded. He went on:
Trust me, that’s what I’m going to do for you this year, that’s what we’re going to do while I’m prime minister and if we do those things we will be able to cut your taxes.
When Sunak used the word “idiots”, he almost certainly did not intend to refer to Tory colleagues like Iain Duncan Smith and John Redwood. But his comment could be linked to them quite easily, which makes it potentially perilous.
Libby Brooks
Despite the ongoing row between the Scottish and UK governments over Holyrood’s gender recognition reform bill, at Thursday’s FMQs both Tories and Labour focused on education and health, a welcome reminder that there is politics beyond the culture war and beyond the constitution.
Meanwhile, hostilities between the two governments continue, with Holyrood’s social justice secretary, Shona Robison, writing an article for the Guardian in which she calls for Alister Jack to revoke section 35 which he is using to prevent the gender bill going for royal assent. She says:
This legislation is designed to make trans people’s lives better by removing an administrative burden. Instead, trans people have been dragged into an attack on devolution that puts them in the middle of a continuing culture war. The UK government must rethink this damaging course of action.
Here is Robison’s article.
Q: You flew to Blackpool today, instead of taking the train. Since you found the airport so useful, why can’t we have it reopened for commercial use.
Sunak says he travels around by air so that he can do “lots of things in one day”. It is not for enjoyment, he says. He says he is working to deliver for the public and when he travels he tries to make himself “as effective as possible on your behalf”.
Q: What is your response to James Dyson?
Sunak says of course growth is important. He says he wants jobs that pay well.
And he says the government is cutting taxes for businesses.
He says no other country in the world has such a generous investment allowance for small and medium-sized businesses.
Q: Can you promise not to put up income tax before the election?
Sunak says when he was chancellor, he did not like the PM talking about tax policy. And he won’t today.
He says he favours low taxes. But the public finances are not where they should be after Covid. He says people are not idiots; they understand that.
He says he is trying to sort out the economy and bring down inflation. If he can do all this, he will be able to bring down taxes.
Q: Is the allocation fair? And hasn’t the phrase levelling up become meaningless?
Sunak repeats his point about the north getting more than the south. He says they could not approve every bid. It would be easier for him if he could, he says. But he says there will be another round of funding.
This government is delivering on things people have been talking about for a long time, he says.
Sunak is now taking questions from the media. Anushka Asthana from ITV goes first. She mentions a castle in Canterbury getting money, and asks why places like that are benefiting. And she says Sunak has more cabinet minsters from Surrey than from the north of England. Is that why levelling up money is going to the south now?
Sunak says the north-west came top in terms of money, followed by the north-east. The north-west is getting twice as much per capita as London and the south-east, he says.
And, as for the cabinet, he says he wants ministers who will just get on with the job.
And he says as prime minister he sits for one of the most northern constituencies represented by a PM.
If he does not deliver for his region, “it is hard for me to go home”.
Phillippa Williamson, leader of the Tory-run Lancashire county council, is asking a question now. She says the council’s levelling up bid was about greener, safer travel. What is your vision for that?
Sunak says the government supports active travel schemes. He says he personally is not big on cycling, but it is important for others, he says.
A woman asks about the pressure on the local RNLI when tourism increases. She says he son is a lifeboat volunteer.
Sunak says that’s an excellent question. They should think about it, he says.
Sunak says he wants to see “really vibrant town centres”.
Businesses in town centres hate business rates. The government is cutting these, he says.
He says people are shopping more online. So the government is changing the planning laws. It used to be hard to get permission to change the use of a premises. The government has changed the rules to make that easier, he says.
He also promotes the government’s Help to Grow programme for businesses.
And he says he hopes the Eden Project will bring more visitors to the town.
Sunak tells the audience they do not have to ask just about the Eden Project.
Q: People cannot visit the north if there is no efficient transport system. What are you doing about that?
Sunak says the government is doing HS2. And he says the government needs to connect the north. From his Yorkshire constituency, getting to London is easy. But getting to Manchester is much harder. The services are less reliable.
He says the government announced last year a £96bn programme to address this. It will take time, he says, but journey times will get faster.
The government is also investing in roads, tackling things like potholes. And it wants to ensure big city regions will be like London, in that the mayor will have transport powers.
In the past the UK has not been good at this, he says. London is productive because it has the tube. You need that in other city regions, he says.
Sunak says the government has changed how student finance is organised.
People will be able to get loans to study at the age of 25 or 35 or 45, he says.
He says as the economy changes, people will change more often, and so they need to retrain.
A woman asks how a project like this might address health inequalities.
Sunak says access to open spaces is good for people’s health. The Eden Project will be fantastic for that, he says.
The NHS is under pressure. The government is recognising that, he says. In the autumn statement they had to make some difficult decisions. The government prioritised the NHS. Billions extra is going in. But it seems that things are not working from the news, he admits.
He says that is because of a number of things. The flu season has been very tough. And the NHS is still recovering from Covid.
He says millions of people are on waiting lists. But the government has a plan to get the numbers down. It is ensuring things like hip operations are done in different places, so operations can carry on when big hospitals are under pressure.
The government is also putting in place measures to speed up hospital discharges.
Sunak says they will not get there overnight. But he is spending a lot of time on this. The other day, he spent all Saturday on a meeting about this, he says. They were focusing on identifying best practice, and extending it.
He says he will be making an announcement about how this can be done with emergency care within the next couple of weeks.
