Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to cut taxes by 17 billion pounds ($21.7 billion) for workers if he is re-elected, in a last-ditch effort to overturn poll results that put him on course for a landslide defeat in Britain's July 4 election.
With his Conservative Party consistently trailing around 20 points behind Keir Starmer's Labor Party in the polls, Sunak made a fresh appeal on Tuesday to what one Conservative MP described as promising further tax cuts if they voted for him.
The party's manifesto aims to put tax cuts at the heart of the campaign, with Sunak's team believing that this move will put pressure on the Labor Party, traditionally seen as a tax and spend party. Starmer has said his party will not raise primary taxes.
Sunak, a 44-year-old former investment banker, admits that the people are disillusioned with him and his party after 14 years in power, which at times have been marred by political turmoil and scandal, with many struggling to make ends meet.
The twin shocks of the Covid pandemic and energy price spikes have seen consumer prices rise 21% in three years, the tax burden has risen to its highest level as a share of the economy since the end of the Second World War, and failing public services have created discontent .
However, Sunak argued that the economy would recover and if re-elected, he would reduce payroll taxes for workers to revive economic growth.*
The biggest tax cut, which accounts for 10 billion pounds of the planned 17 billion pound reduction, is a 2 percentage point cut in National Insurance rates paid by workers, which will come into effect by April 2027.
The Conservative Party is also now facing a challenge from the far-right UK Reform party, which, under Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage, has vowed to lead a "rebellion" against the Conservatives.
