Gaffe or mask slip? British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told an audience that because they weren’t “idiots” they’d have the capacity to comprehend why he wouldn’t be cutting taxes any time soon, leaving some reeling at the clear corollary implied.
Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Jeremy Hunt — the dynamic duo who brought down the previous Conservative Party government of tax-cutting Liz Truss in what was broadly seen as a globalist coup — were touring economically deprived areas on Thursday when the Prime Minister was asked about cutting taxes.
As reported by British Conservative Party-adjacent newspaper The Daily Telegraph, the PM’s response was rather terse, telling his audience “I want to cut your taxes… I wish I could do that tomorrow, quite frankly, but the reason we can’t is because of all the reasons you know. You’re not idiots, you know what’s happened”.
Sunak went on to say the government shutting down the economy for coronavirus and the war in Ukraine means he couldn’t cut taxes.
Before letting Britons keep more of their own money, Sunak said he had a shopping list of things he wanted to do first, saying he wanted to get more funding to government departments, get interest rates lower, and get a “grip” on inflation.
‘Anti-Family’ Conservatives Ensnaring Thousands More in Middle-Class Households in ’96 Per Cent Tax Trap’: Reporthttps://t.co/wJKum8ASN2
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 28, 2022
The comments have, perhaps unsurprisingly, caused some concern. Richard Tice, leader of the Reform Party — previously Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party — said Sunak was showing his “consocialist” colours with the remark. Tory Brexiteer John Redwood questioned Sunak’s logic of only cutting tax once the economy was growing, pointing out the very long-term Conservative view that it is tax cuts that spur the economy to growth, not the other way around.
The Telegraph cited John Longworth, former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) as saying that Sunak reaching for words like “idiot” to describe those in favour of shrinking the state shows “desperation on his part”.
“We should cut tax and regulation, stimulate the economy and enterprise – and that will generate tax revenues. It is a bizarre situation that we are in, where we have people at the top of government who do not believe in growth. They need to go and read Mrs Thatcher,” Longworth added.
'Stealth Taxes' on Middle Classes Will See Families £40,000 Worse Off Over Next Decade: Report https://t.co/qH7OIshnOy
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 27, 2022
