Is Rishi Sunak losing his battle within the Cabinet to promote fiscal responsibility? We’ll find out this week, when he unveils his Budget and three-year Spending Review on Wednesday, but there were hints this morning that more spending is coming down the track. Speaking to Andrew Marr on BBC One, Sunak laid out the principles that guided his Budget process this time round:
‘Strong investment in public services, driving economic growth by investing in infrastructure, innovation and skills, giving businesses confidence and then supporting working families. Those are the ingredients of what makes a stronger Budget and that’s what we will deliver next week.’
This is not the language of a Chancellor ready to retire the many arms of the state that have been working overtime during the Covid crisis. That economic growth is being framed as a job of government and state investment – not the market economy – suggests the tax breaks and scale back of state interference desperately needed to kickstart organic growth are still far off.
Rather than fighting yesterday’s battles, Sunak is instead doubling down on the runner-up option
It’s a change in tone from Tory party conference, where Sunak was a
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