On Thursday, both Tory leadership candidates were forced to face grim reports from economists warning of the danger tax cuts pose to the coffer.
Frontrunner Liz Truss and rival Rishi Sunakhave repeatedly clashed over tax cuts and competing visions of the UK economy, but the respected Faced with sober analysis by celebrities. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that "permanent tax cuts" could exacerbate pressure on public spending.
The warning comes amid a deteriorating economic outlook for the UK, with inflation rising to 10.1% in July, as passengers across the country slammed into the rail, tube and bus industries. We are in the process of preparing to tackle the latest wave of activity. The next few days.
Sunak, who is believed to lag behind her rivals in popularity among party members who will be electing the next Conservative leader, used the IFS survey to point out that Truss attacked Mr. and her economic plans.
A spokesman for the Sunak campaign said the analysis "is driving coaches and horses through Liz's economic plans."
Liz Truss during a campaign visit in Port Belfast (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA)
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"Rishi has consistently argued that permanent and unfunded tax cuts would seriously damage the public finances and drive up inflation," a spokesman said.
High inflation and interest rates will push up public spending, including benefits and pensions, she predicts, the IFS.
Combined with slower economic growth, this could offset the impact of expected tax increases.
The report cautioned: "Prudent prime ministers and prime ministers determined to meet their government's existing financial targets and manage the country's finances responsibly would be wise not to rely on higher revenues to match increased spending.
Both candidates doubled down on their economic policies during their recent campaign in Belfast. Sunak said he would be guilty of a "moral failure" if he did not focus on the country's poorest, as the foreign minister warned. Her policies could make inflation even worse.
Instead, Mr. Truss argued, "Taxes are too high and may be stifling growth."
Team Her Truss appeared unfazed by her IFS analysis, with campaign sources saying Mr Truss "will use the emergency budget to grow the economy and the pockets of hard-working people." We will start planning to put more money into it."
“Liz will take advantage of existing fiscal slack to cut taxes and reduce its debt to GDP within three years. You can’t tax the road to growth and it will do just fine in business as usual.
It was Jacob Rees-Mogg,Brexit Opportunity Minister, who suggested that without Mr Snack, the cost-cutting drive at Whitehall could have gone further. It's from
In the recent attack on the former prime minister by senior Truss supporters and Johnson supporters, Mr. Reesmogg said that his "focus on tightly controlling spending and reducing fraud" From 2020 to 2021 he claimed to have saved him £3.5bn.
Reesemogg, who is also the minister responsible for government efficiency, wrote to The Telegraph: £5.5 billion annually.
"Unfortunately, this was underutilized by the former Prime Minister, but it should be an important tool in the next Prime Minister's arsenal to reduce waste and inflation.
Ms. Truss, who appears to have a following among her fellow MPs as she continues to campaign nationwide, is the widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble. supported her bid to become Prime Minister.
Mrs. Trimble wrote to The Telegraph:
"I know David was thinking the same thing. One of the last things he did before we lost him was giving his son a ballot so he could vote for Liz.
Rishi snacks during a Hasting event at the Culloden Hotel in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)
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Both candidates were under pressure to come up with a solution to the cost of living crisis, and as the contest entered its final weeks, is overshadowing the competition.
Ofgem director Christine Farnish, who resigned because she believed the watchdog "has not struck an appropriate balance between the interests of consumers and suppliers". The resignation puts further scrutiny on the approach taken by the government. about the crisis.
Her Ed Miliband, the Labor Party's shadow secretary for climate change, argued that the resignation showed the government was "sleep behind the wheel".
"For 12 years, the Conservative Party has completely failed to regulate the energy market. No other country has gone bankrupt with 32 energy suppliers," he said.
``We cannot allow the British public to suffer further increases in claims. It is intolerable."
