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Rishi Sunak arrived in Manchester for a party conference on Saturday, facing pressure from Conservative MPs over taxes and questions over his apparent plans to cut the HS2 high-speed rail line to the city.
More than 30 Conservative MPs have signed a pledge not to vote for further tax rises after a think tank reported that taxes would rise by £3,500 per household from 2019.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has pledged to end the “vicious cycle of rising taxes” by cutting the cost of public services, mainly through the use of new technologies and reforms to the welfare system.
But that’s not enough for some right-wing Conservatives, who want Hunt to cut taxes in November’s autumn statement to kick-start economic growth.
Liz Truss will speak at a “Rally for Growth” on the fringes of the conference on Monday, where the former prime minister will claim she was right to push for big tax cuts. That policy unraveled after last year’s disastrous mini-budget.
In a sign of the tension ahead of the meeting, which starts on Sunday, 33 Conservative MPs signed a pledge to voters not to “vote for or support any new taxes that would increase the overall tax burden”.
In any case, Hunt’s idea of raising taxes before the election is unlikely, as Sunak and the chancellor hope to use next spring’s budget to cut taxes, including a possible inheritance tax rate.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said this week that household tax is expected to rise by £3,500 a year at the next election compared with 2019, the biggest increase ever for a council.
The IFS said that if tax as a share of national income remains the same as in 2019, it is expected that the Conservative government will raise an additional £100 billion per year by 2024.
Mr Hunt said he would save money by launching “the biggest transformation of the public service in our lifetime”, with all departments being told to save money by reducing the routine tasks carried out by frontline staff with the help of new technology.
In an interview with The Times, the chancellor also said he would overhaul the welfare system, which he said was “incredibly damaging to the economy and individuals”. He said 100,000 people were moved from employment to welfare every year “without any obligation to look for work”.
Sunak said he expected to travel to Manchester by train due to the rail strike. He will face further questions over his repeated refusal to guarantee that the HS2 rail line will be built beyond Birmingham to northern England.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper refused to comment on “media speculation” that the line would only be built between London and Birmingham, insisting most people would travel by car or bus rather than trains.
Harper promised a better deal for motorists, including “new guidance” to stop the “blanket implementation” of 20mph speed limits in urban areas, as is happening in Wales.
The minister told the BBC that such restrictions would be appropriate in certain places, such as near schools. He could not name any 20mph speed limit policy in England that he would like to see.
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