Peter Lazenby
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PRE-ELECTION tax cuts this year would cause “public uproar,” the TUC warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today after a former Tory leader claimed that they were vital for the party to secure victory.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak called on the Prime Minister to “learn the lessons” of the catastrophic mini-Budget of his predecessor Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who attempted to cut taxes for the rich at a time when millions are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and being forced to choose between heating their homes or putting food on the table.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith is among a growing number of Tory backbenchers calling for tax cuts in the spring Budget, saying that winning a general election without them would be impossible.
Mr Nowak said: “Delivering tax cuts at a time when he’s got these huge crises in our NHS and elsewhere would be a real mistake. I think there would be an uproar.”
But he warned of “a real danger that, under the pressure from his backbenchers, the Prime Minister might be tempted into things like tax cuts.”
Instead of slashing taxes, Mr Nowak said that Mr Sunak should choose to resolve the long-running industrial disputes with nurses, ambulance staff, teachers and other public-sector workers.
He called for tax increases, with profiteering oil and gas giants being particularly targeted.
“You could choose, if you wanted to, to tax the oil and gas giants more heavily,” he said.
“You could choose to bump up capital gains tax. This government has chosen not to.
“Generally, people are baffled by this government’s choices. He [Mr Sunak] still lifted the cap on bankers’ bonuses at a time when we had record bonuses in the City of London last year.
“If you are a paramedic or you’re a physiotherapist or you’re a teacher, or indeed a railway worker or a postie, you’re looking at that and you’re thinking: ‘This government’s got its priorities all wrong’.”
Mr Nowak, who became TUC general secretary this month, accused the Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt of ignoring his requests for a meeting.
