Showing posts with label Conservative conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conservative conference. Show all posts

Saturday, October 02, 2021

You Can’t Level Up by Raising Taxes on the Poor, Tories Tell PM

THE OBSERVER: Top MPs warn No 10 over plans for equality as Conservative conference gets under way in Manchester
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The prime minister, Boris Johnson, visits the site of the new children’s hospital at Leeds general infirmary on Saturday 2 October. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/AFP/Getty Images

A group of senior Conservative MPs has broken ranks to openly question how Boris Johnson can deliver on his promise to increase prosperity in poorer parts of the UK while at the same time raising taxes for working people and cutting benefits.

As the prime minister arrived in Manchester on Saturday night for his party’s first full conference since its thumping 2019 election win, Johnson insisted he was ready to take the “big, bold decisions on the priorities people care about – like on social care, on supporting jobs, on climate change, tackling crime and levelling up”.

But among Tory MPs, including some who won their northern or Midlands seats from Labour on the back of Johnson’s promise to “level up” the country, there was growing concern that tax rises and cuts to universal credit may fatally undermine their constituents’ trust in Johnson and his ability to deliver for people in more deprived areas. » | Toby Helm, Michael Savage, Phillip Inman and Harriet Sherwood | Saturday, October 2, 2021

I have said before and I'll say it again: Boris Johnson has a poor grip on economics. He is a classicist; he is not an economist. Not only does he not understand economics, he is clueless, too. One thing that he doesn't seem to understand is this: The economy must work for everyone, not just the superrich. There are going to be very many people hurting this winter because of the cuts in benefits and the rising energy and food prices. For the poor and less well-off, this is a huge problem. Doubtless, the superrich will keep on partyng. Energy price rises and rising food prices will mean little to them. But for the less well-off, it will be a huge deal. Have a heart, Boris. It's the Christian way. – © Mark