Rishi Sunak wakes up to the most positive front pages his government has had in months. The decision to use the autumn statement to cut personal tax as well as make the largest business tax cut in modern history has led to the press praising the government for easing the tax burden – even if it is still going up. Meanwhile, MPs hope this is just the beginning and it marks a pathway to further tax cuts ahead of the election.
Addressing MPs last night at a meeting of the 1922 committee, Hunt said the autumn statement marked a turning point – both for the economy and the party’s fortunes. He also told MPs that the party ‘should not pretend that we did not put taxes up’ as they were for a reason – citing the furlough scheme in the pandemic as well as energy support. He hinted, too, that further tax cuts could be on the way – saying the economy is now in a better state to provide tax cuts as they had seen in the statement.
One of the questions asked by MPs is one that has been asked by journalists since the statement: do tax cuts mean an early election? The talk is that the decision to bring in the cut in national insurance in January could hint that the Tories want to go to the polls in May – rather than wait until the autumn. Hunt told his party not to read into this, but suggested the prime minister was still to decide on an election date. As I say in this week’s politics column, there is a sense that No. 10 wants to keep its options open. As a senior minister tells me: ‘No. 10 want maximum flexibility on election timings’.
While autumn has always been viewed as the most likely date for the election, there are some in No. 10 who have long liked the idea of going early if the polls narrow – which is not happening at present. There are others who think there is another argument for going in the spring: if it looks like later in the year things are only going to get worse.
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