Cut welfare to fund 2p income tax decrease, says Tory leadership hopeful Jenrick
Returning the benefits bill to pre-pandemic levels would free up enough money for a 2p income tax cut, Robert Jenrick said as he laid out his vision for Britain’s economy.
In a wide-ranging speech on Wednesday, the Conservative leadership hopeful argued for a small-state, lower-regulation Britain, taking the Margaret Thatcher government has his example.
He told an audience in the upstairs room of a restaurant on Old Queen’s Street, Westminster: “It’s a simple agenda, rather than a big state that fails we need a small state that works.”
Civil servants
Along with sacking 100,000 civil servants, replacing “failed” universities with “apprenticeship hubs” and reforming the planning system to build more houses, Mr Jenrick argued for “responsible” tax cuts funded by getting more people back into work.
He said: “I am setting a simple target: we will bring the inactivity rate back down to its pre-pandemic level, bringing almost 500,000 people back into the workforce.”
This, he said, would cut the welfare bill by £12 billion, enough to fund a 2p income tax cut.
But asked whether he was committing to proposing such a tax cut if he became leader, he rowed back, saying: “We are not in government and I’m not going to write the manifesto for four or five years’ time.
“But I have set out what the choice is. That’s within our grasp if the Labour Government make the right decisions.”
Cut taxes
Mr Jenrick also stressed the need to cut taxes “responsibly”, arguing the Liz Truss mini-budget had been a “damaging episode” as it had paired tax cuts with “massive spending” on support for energy bills – something he described as “the largest single welfare bailout, I think, in our country’s modern history”.
His speech came as voting began in the membership round of the Conservative leadership contest, which sees Mr Jenrick face off with former business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is widely seen as the frontrunner.
But Mr Jenrick insisted his campaign had “momentum” as he argued the Conservative Party faced “an existential challenge”.
Ms Badenoch is expected to hold a virtual rally of her own on Wednesday evening.
Conservative members have until October 31 to vote for their preferred leader, with the result announced on November 2.
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I don’t need a tax cut, I need investment in our NHS and things that save us all thousands compared to the alternative . This man is such a turncoat for populism. Another fool who thinks a low tax society actually works. We need to invest to break this brexit hell down a bit. Try to recover the hundreds of billions knocked off our economy or the mass loss for 14 yrs of standards of living.
14 years already wasted, all of a sudden he has the key to fixing things and he has served in ministerial posts affecting policy? Member of Truss’s cabinet as well as Johnson, not something I would put on my CV, though did he have time to register with the lettuce? Sunak had him as immigration minster and that has been shown to have failed through policy he would have been involved with (like removing paintings for traumatised kids). Trump supporter as well (so much to unpack there). So, we have a known bunch of idiots that will vote for one… Read more »
Tax cuts for the rich, throat cuts for the poor. In 2010, Cameron said ‘big society’ which means small state and 14 years later, Bob thinks that worked. He hasn’t asked himself why he is about to become the leader of a dumped irrelevance crew who will soon run out of patience with his plan to keep them out of power for decades.
You really are a nasty piece of work ‘Call me Bob’ Jenrick
He is basically trying to out do Farage, who has for years, since his UKIP days, called for private health insurance to be taken out by the population so as to reduce government spending on health. The Tory party are blinded by Farage, as witnessed by Badenoch saying maternity payments had gone too far, ever more to the right they drift and think that is what will get them re elected. It will be interesting to see in the Senedd election if the move to the right will benefit them here in Cymru, or will people vote Reform, fed up… Read more »
Your opening line nails it. Rather than cut a deal with cuddly Nige, flip flop Bob (remainer to leaver to ultra nasty man), believes he can become him without having put in the hard yards of occupying a place inside the EU Parliament, spitting his venom, embarrassing us all and gaining hero status among some for doing so. Bob is deluded if he thinks he can band wagon jump that. We are entering a period of Hague, Dunkin’ Donuts, Howard string of opposition leaders UNLESS he is replaced by the dream (nightmare) Boz/Nige double act. Bob is setting himself to… Read more »
Ah, I see now that ART”I am not racist but”D has stumped up for Jenrick. Not a huge surprise.
Now is not the time for tax cuts, we need investment in the NHS and public transport. The UK budget is short due to the irresponsible unfunded cut to NI contributions by the last UK Tory administration, Even if the government could budget cut cuts then a percentage rate cut would have little effect in improving the economy. The most effective tax change is to increase the £12,500 threshold to reflect RPI increases. This will put more money into more people’s income and would take many part-time workers out of tax completely. It would give more people more money to… Read more »
Tax cuts, benefits cuts ? Boy is showing even more evidence that he is a dunce. More to the point he was part of Truss’ crew and that makes him complicit in one of the most unnecessary bouts of inflation in recent history. Who paid the heaviest price for that goof ? Those on the lower levels of the incomes hierarchy and they are still paying and will do so for a long time until Reeves and Starmer get their heads out of their arses. 0/10 for that piece of writing Jenrick. Go back, rethink and rewrite. If you persist… Read more »
Same old Tory rightwing crap – they’ll never learn. If the UK conservatives continue in this vain they’ll be out of power for a generation. Perhaps that would be a good thing if UK labour weren’t acting like soft Tories too. Westminster, it appears, is just unable to change. Independence is the only way forward.