Conservative Party candidate Rishi Sunak pledged on Sunday, 31 July, to cut taxes by 20 percent by the end of the decade, in what is one of his main pitches foe the campaign to become the next party leader and the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
He also said that he will cut income tax by 1 percent from 2024 but his top priority is to get inflation and borrowing under control.
The former chancellor of the exchequer called his pledge "the biggest income tax cut since Margaret Thatcher’s government."
Sunak has warned against hasty tax cuts, something that has been promised by his rival, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has pledged to cut taxes since day 1.
She has also promised to cancel the planned six percent rise in corporation tax and reverse the National Insurance hike which came into force in April. Sunak has referred to all of this has "fantasy economics."
In a veiled attack at Truss, Sunak said that "winning this leadership contest without levelling with people about what lies ahead would not only be dishonest – it would be an act of self-sabotage that condemns our party to defeat at the next general election and consigns us to a long period in opposition."
Sunak is being considered as the underdog in this race, but he is not too far behind. A poll of Tory councillors by Savanta ComRes revealed that 31 percent of Tory members are expected to vote for Truss, and around 29 percent for Sunak. Around 32 percent are still undecided.
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