Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Rishi Sunak that raising taxes will cost Tories next election
Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned Rishi Sunak that he will cost the Tories the next election if he raises taxes next year in what could be the start of a cabinet row.
The Leader of the House of Commons said on his Moggcast podcast last night that raising taxes would damage the UK’s economic recovery and lead to a breakdown of trust with the electorate.
Rees-Mogg cited the case of George H.W. Bush who was defeated by Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, after breaking a promise to not raise taxes during his first presidential term.
“‘Read my lips – no new taxes’ — George Bush Sr said this again and again and again,” Rees-Mogg said.
“And then when it came to the Gulf War and the economic downturn, he broke his promise and he lost the ensuing election.
“No sensible party or government ever breaks manifesto commitments willy nilly – it needs extraordinary circumstances and it also needs public consent.”
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Rees-Mogg added: “I think most people would agree that at the point at which an economy is coming out of an extraordinarily deep slump, that is not the time when you want to slap the economy down with higher taxes.”
Sunak has spent more than £200bn during the Covid crisis and this year’s budget deficit is expect to hit to historic highs.
The chancellor has signalled on multiple occasions that he will likely have to raise taxes next year, with capital gains tax thought to be in his crosshairs.
Boris Johnson went to the 2019 election promising not to raise VAT, income tax or National Insurance in what he called a triple tax lock.
Treasury Select Committee chair, and Tory MP, Mel Stride told City A.M. earlier this year that Sunak would have to break the triple tax lock to balance the nation’s finances.
“Given where we are, tax is going to have to play a significant role in getting us through and dealing with the deficit in the longer term,” Stride said.
“It’s hard to believe that you can’t do anything around those – that you can avoid doing anything around those [three] taxes…you have to look at the broad-based taxes to do the heavy lifting.”