As it turned out, the Tories were delivering dishonesties to the electorate right until the very end of their government. Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt admitted on Sunday that there would have been no tax cuts in the immediate future – despite repeated promises to do so.
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During the election campaign, the Conservatives pitched themselves as the party who would lower taxes, against a Labour Party they claimed would raise them. To some extent, this message cut through – even if it did have to be fact-checked and debunked several times.
However, the scare tactics from the blue rosettes fell desperately short. Labour ended up winning a large majority in government, and the Tories saw their dominance in the House of Commons end abruptly. They were left with little more than 120 seats.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Mr. Hunt – who is now the shadow chancellor – ripped into his opposite number Rachel Reeves. He slammed the Labour incumbent for claiming that public finances have been left in the worst state since World War II.
However, the senior politician was unable to confidently talk-up his own management of the economy, and instead, Hunt was forced into a humiliating admission. When pressed about potential Autumn tax cuts if the Tories were re-elected, he reneged on the promise.
The exchange has only served as fuel to the Labour fire, with several prominent party figures jumping on the admission. Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, noted that this was the ‘first glimmer of honesty’ Hunt had showed regarding the state of the economy:
“Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt admitted this morning that the Tories wouldn’t have been able to cut taxes in the Autumn. It’s the first glimmer of honesty from the Tories about their dodgy election promises, and the inheritance they’ve left the country.” | Darren Jones
