Tory spat over tax cuts intensifies as Treasury minister hits back at MPs demanding them now
A TORY spat over tax cuts intensified as a Treasury minister hit back at MPs demanding them now.
Financial Secretary Victoria Atkins said it was not yet affordable to start easing the burden on workers and families.
Pointing to tens of billions spent on cost-of-living support, she said: “We do not have the headroom at the moment to look at tax cuts.”
Several senior backbenchers, including ex-Cabinet ministers, broke ranks at the weekend urging Rishi Sunak to make tax cuts imminently.
But Ms Atkins could not commit to them happening before a general election.
She said: “As soon as we can, as soon as we have taken measures that we are taking to reduce inflation, then we will be able to start having those conversations.”
She admitted the PM’s vow to slash inflation was proving trickier than expected, pointing to “complex, knotty problems” in the economy.
Inflation is stubbornly at 8.7 per cent. It was at 10.7 per cent in January, when Mr Sunak pledged to halve it by the end of the year.
A report from a think-tank set up by Margaret Thatcher today calls for a shake-up of the tax system to ease the pinch for families.
Written by ex-Cabinet minister Ranil Jayawardena, it seeks reforms to the marriage allowance, childcare subsidies and the scrapping of inheritance tax.
The Tory MP said: “Families should be free to keep more of their money and spend it however they want.”