A leadership election campaign ought to be a good chance for potential prime ministers to set out how they would deliver the kind of government that the people want. Instead, we have had a parade of leading lights offering fantasy tax cuts, and one candidate who seems to be running on a ticket to abolish unisex toilets.
What is the No 1 priority of the British people? It is the cost of living. And what do the candidates have to offer them? Unfunded tax cuts, mainly. Cuts to national insurance contributions, income tax, fuel duty, and even corporation tax. And none of them spelling out credible spending cuts to pay for these things, implying higher borrowing at a time when interest rates are rising, meaning it would pile on costs to be paid by future generations.
To his credit, Rishi Sunak, the recent chancellor, set the terms of the election by pre-emptively attacking “fairytales” about the economy. This does seem to have forced at least one candidate, Penny Mordaunt, to rein in the impossible promises and to agree that lower taxes are only prudent when the public finances are sustainable.
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