1 SEPTEMBER 2022 | NEWS
The leading candidate in the race to be leader of the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom’s next Prime Minister has said she would not introduce any new taxes as leader.
The current Foreign Secretary and leadership hopeful Liz Truss ruled out adopting any new taxes if she were to win the leadership contest, in which voting will end at 5pm tomorrow. Ms Truss made the comments at the final leadership Hustings for the two remaining candidates, which took place in London last night.
The bookies’ favourite to win the contest was being probed on her future taxation policies at the Wembley Arena venue by host Nick Ferrari. When asked a direct question on whether any further taxes would be levied under her regime if she wins, she said simply: “Yes, no new taxes”.
This echoed the words of former US President George H. W. Bush, who uttered the same line in a 1988 campaign pledge. However, his own Republican administration did ultimately end up raising the tax burden, although this related to a failure to reach an agreement with the opposing US party, the Democrats.
Ms Truss has already promised to immediately overturn the rise in National Insurance contributions that has been in place from April this year, should she win the premiership.
The Foreign Secretary set out in an article for The Sunday Times her proposition for the National Insurance hike. She wrote: “I would hit the ground running by bringing in an emergency budget, charting a firm course to get our economy growing in order to help fund our public services and NHS.
“I would use this to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis by cutting taxes, reversing the rise on national insurance and suspending the green levy on energy bills.”
The decision to hike National Insurance was implemented by Liz Truss’ rival for the leadership and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.
She also wrote in the article: “The way I would do things is in a conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.”
At the Hustings, Ms Truss also addressed the energy crisis and potential solutions she would implement to combat the ongoing issues. She argued for increasing the supply of energy and ruled out any further windfall taxes on energy companies, stating: “You’ll have heard me talking about supply of energy and that’s why I think dealing with supply is the answer to this problem.
“It’s not just a problem for people, it’s a problem for businesses with high energy costs.
“So, I will be looking across the board to make sure we’re increasing supply, and therefore dealing with the root cause of the issue rather than just putting a sticking plaster on.
“But I would absolutely be looking to act on business energy costs.”
Both leadership candidates have also pledged to review the entire tax system as Prime Minister. Ms Truss’ rival, Rishi Sunak, defended the adoption of windfall taxes on energy companies – which are presently set to be used to fund support for families struggling with the cost of living during the winter – saying it was “absolutely the right thing” to do.
This is a measure that Opposition parties have been demanding in recent weeks, in order to curb the effects of the energy price cap rise on both households and businesses.
When asked about alternative strategies to support struggling families, Mr Sunak also refused to rule out the prospect of ‘energy rationing’, saying: “We shouldn’t rule anything out, because the challenges that we face with this crisis are significant.”
Ms Truss’ campaign team has said she would consider the full range of options when and if she were to become Prime Minister next week, with Ms Truss herself adding that she would be “robust”, but was not willing to set out her full plans prematurely.
The winner of the leadership contest is set to be announced this coming Monday, with the incumbent leader, Boris Johnson, to vacate his position the day after.
