On Thursday, former Prime Minister Theresa May said that this election – like all others – would ultimately be fought on the economy.
Today, we have a sense of how this battle will play out.
Jeremy Hunt, donning his senior Conservative politician hat, launched a blistering attack on the Labor Party, accusing the party of “lying” and spreading “fake news”, and branding its pensions claims “disgusting”.
For the rather docile chancellor, this is a strong thing.
Politics live: Chancellor slams Labor Party’s tax claims as ‘fake news’
At the heart of his speech was that taxes would fall under a future Conservative government.
Yes, they have increased in recent years, but that was due to unforeseen circumstances – such as the energy crisis and COVID – that necessitated massive state aid, he said.
The future would be different, Hunt said, claiming that under Labour’s current plans taxes would inevitably rise if elected.
But was that a guarantee? It was a question I asked him – could he provide a “cast iron” promise on Tory tax?
And when the time came, Mr. Hunt couldn’t do it.
Instead, he said, “If you’re asking me: I can look into a crystal ball and predict what’s going to happen in the world in the next five or ten years and therefore give you a solid guarantee of when we’ll be able to reduce the tax burden and up to what level?
“The answer is, of course I can’t. And it would be irresponsible to do so.”
There are no guarantees in politics, of course. But this gets to the heart of the problem here.
Both parties are making promises, trying to make commitments, but the public also knows that circumstances also change.
And with few guarantees, it can sometimes result largely in defamation on both sides – leaving a bewildered public in its wake.
However, this is a public that is more tired of conservative economic management after Liz Truss and that has recently seen a reduction in living standards.
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The Conservatives hope that an improved macroeconomic picture, along with another tax-cut budget before the election, will turn the tide on the Labor Party leadership.
Labor hopes that people just aren’t feeling it and that it won’t change much.
This is the real battle – an Election Day judgment about the state of the economy or people’s circumstances at that moment, rather than simply about the future promises we will hear a lot about over the next six months.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
