The Chancellor prepared the ground for a general election campaign in which the Conservatives accuse Labour of being feckless.
Still, the argument that tax cuts themselves lead to growth is one that the Conservative Party hasn’t been used to making since the days of David Cameron Mark One.
The current system adds friction to the labour market, encourages inefficient use of housing stock, and all but exempts a huge share of this country’s wealth from the taxman.
The key problem is stagnation. Margaret Thatcher’s reforms promoted mobility and opportunity. Now we are an economy which doesn’t change enough.
Hunt should raise his sights from South West Surrey, and focus on tax cuts that would bring the greatest relief to the greatest number.
If there is leeway for cuts, wouldn’t it be wiser to use it for a reduction that affects a greater number of voters or boosts the economy?
We need to stop putting sticking plasters on the problem of a shortage of houses and use positive tax nudges to do some of the legwork.
As Ed Miliband learned in 2015, it doesn’t matter how popular your policies are individually if voters don’t buy into your broader offer.
There is always a majority for heaping extra taxes on other people. But such policies have a habit of sticking around, and drawing more and more people in.
It quashes the housing market, reduces labour mobility and inescapably reduces the number of transactions. This is not contested: the Treasury accepts the point in its modelling.
In one of the most remarkable statements from a Chancellor in living memory, Kwarteng pledged to reduce the top rate of income tax – amongst many other measures.
The first of a series of five articles on ConservativeHome this week about the main challenges that await the new Prime Minister.
As England moves from Plan B to Plan A, here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Government’s now-to-be-phased-out Covid guidance.
Whole blocks of flats in London are sold off-plan to international investors, doing nothing to help Generation Rent.
New legislation is not required to enact popular conservative policies immediately. There are great powers on the statute book which give ministers serious leeway to introduce new policies by order or regulation,requiring minimal parliamentary time.