Rishi Sunak can’t please Conservative MPs and the ‘blue wall’ voters

Many new Tory voters want higher spending to fix underfunded public services – but the party old guard are playing a familar tax-cutting tune, writes Ben Chapman

The chancellor himself would face a big bill if a form of mansion tax was introduced (Getty)

New chancellor Rishi Sunak faces a number of dilemmas in his first Budget on 11 March. Chief among them is how to square his previously professed faith in low taxes and free markets with the demands of the Conservative Party’s new voters in what was once Labour’s red wall – which has since turned blue in December’s election.

Research published this week by Tax Justice UK found that many of those voters strongly favour increased public spending, they want it delivered quickly, and they are not averse to higher taxes on wealth in order to pay for it.

The campaign group polled and carried out focus groups in parts of the north of England, Wales and the midlands that had previously been Labour strongholds.