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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warns ‘nothing off table’ on tax cuts as senior Tory says government behaving like ‘libertarian jihadists’ | Politics News


A Tory senior has accused the government of looking “like liberal jihadists” and treating the country as “lab rats” over the past few weeks.

Robert Halfon, former Conservative Party vice-chairman and education minister under Theresa May, said he believes Liz Truss need to apologize to the public for the economic turmoil caused by the small budget three weeks ago.

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge program on Sunday: “I’m worried that over the past few weeks the government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country like rats. experiment to conduct a hyper-free market experiment.

“There’s one horror story after another.”

Basic income tax cut may be delayed – according to live political updates

He added that the public was “frightened” about what was happening to the economy and said the prime minister needed to lay out a “real vision” for Britain’s future.

Mr Halfon, now chair of the education selection committee, said he “welcomes” some of the comments made by Jeremy Hunt on his first day as a new prime minister after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked on Friday.

Before Mr Kwarteng was sacked, Mr Halfon accused Ms Truss of defrauding the “last 10 years” of the Conservative government during a meeting of pro-Tory MPs she was dealing with.

He told the prime minister that the small budget disproportionately benefits the wealthy and means she has abandoned “worker conservatism”, The Times reported.

Sir Charles Bean, a former deputy director of the Bank of England, denied the government’s claim that the recent market turmoil was due to a “global phenomenon”.

He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday it was “unnecessary” to say it was purely due to global events and said the UK economy was similar to Germany, but now looks “more like Italy and Greece”. “.

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Former BoE owes UK economy

Can defense spending be pledged off-the-books?

Andrew Griffith, the Treasury Department’s finance secretary, hinted that Ms. Truss could abandon her campaign pledges, including a promise to increase defense spending from 2% to 3% by the end of the decade. .

When asked specifically about his commitment to increase defense spending, he told Sophy Ridge: “I’m afraid there’s no commitment that I can make at 9 a.m. Sunday because we’re in the process of doing it. presently.

“I think it’s fair to say, you’d be the first to say ‘why would you make a decision without fully considering those and of course unrelated to OBR’, that’s what I think. that we’ve all been told that with hindsight it’s better to do.”

Read more:

Hunt warns of tough tax and spending decisions ahead
Joe Biden thinks Liz Truss’ economic plan was a ‘mistake’ – and suggests others think so too

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Minister of Finance on Defense Spending

The leading defense think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute, has calculated that raising defense spending to 3% of national income by 2030 would mean an additional 40,000 troops and an additional $157 billion in spending. pound.

But if that commitment is ignored, very respected Defense Secretary Ben Wallace may resignSky News defense and security editor Deborah Haynes said.

Asked if any move away from defense spending targets was a matter of resignation, a defense source said Mr Wallace would remain prime minister on pledges made. .

That pledge appears to be balancing after Mr Hunt this weekend repeatedly said he would ask all government agencies to find “effective savings”.

Liz Truss appoints Jeremy Hunt as prime minister.  Photo: Andrew Parsons / Number 10 Downing Street
Picture:
Photo: Andrew Parsons / Number 10 Downing Street

‘Take nothing off the table’

In his latest comment, Mr Hunt told the BBC’s Sunday program with Laura Kuenssberg: “I would ask every government agency to find more efficient ways of saving.

“I have no doubt, I want to keep as much tax cuts as possible, because our long-term health depends on being a low-tax economy. And I really believe in that. that.”

Click to subscribe to Sophy Ridge on the Sunday podcast

Mr Hunt added that he did not think the future would be “like” the previous austerity era under David Cameron and George Osborne.

Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said the Conservative Party’s actions over the past three weeks were a “disgrace” and “embarrassment”.

“I think every time Conservative ministers come in and pretend somehow that this is not their responsibility, confidence drops,” he told Sky News.

“Who is primarily responsible for this government? What is the policy of this government? I don’t know the answers to those questions.”

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