UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has warned that the Conservative Party will have to confront far-reaching repercussions should Foreign Secretary Liz Truss persist with her proposed tax cut plans.
In an article for The Times, Raab - who also serves as secretary of state for justice and lord chancellor - argued that it was wrong for Truss to propose tax cuts without rolling out plans to protect Brits from the cost of living crisis.
He asserted that if the government goes to the country with “an emergency budget in September that fails to measure up to the task in hand, voters will not forgive us as they see their living standards eroded and the financial security they cherish disappear before their eyes”.
“Such a failure will read unmistakenly to the public like an electoral suicide note and, as sure as night follows day, see our great party cast into the impotent oblivion of opposition,” the deputy prime minister pointed out.
The 48-year-old insisted that the Truss campaign should focus on policies that “shield those people from the full force of the serious global economic headwinds we now face”.
His comments came a few days after the foreign secretary stressed that reducing the tax burden for Brits remains her priority, and that there would be no “handouts” if she wins the race for No 10.
Truss has repeatedly locked horns with her Tory leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, over the tax issue during live TV debates last month. In them, the foreign secretary, accused the former chancellor of raising taxes “to the highest level in 70 years,” which is “not going to drive economic growth.”
Sunak responded by claiming that the UK’s massive tax burden was the result of unprecedented levels of government spending aimed at keeping the national economy afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic. Truss responded that no other country was raising taxes, and accused Sunak of having no clear-cut plan for economic growth.
Launching her Tory leadership bid after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement about his upcoming resigning on July 7, Truss pledged to slash taxes from “day one” in office in order “to help people deal with the cost of living”.