Sunak: I’ll save taxpayers £12bn by beating benefit fraud and reforming welfare
“Rishi Sunak has promised to save the taxpayer £12 billion a year by clamping down on benefit fraudsters and reforming the welfare system. The Conservatives will make a manifesto pledge to halt the rising costs of welfare by reforming the benefits system if they win the election. Mr Sunak claims that their reforms will save some £12 billion a year by the end of the next parliament by ensuring more working age people currently claiming benefits have a job. Statistics released earlier this year show that the number of those classed as “economically inactive”, meaning they are neither in a job nor looking for one, has ballooned to 9.25 million following the pandemic.” – Sunday Telegraph
- PM vows £12bn in tax cuts – FT
- Mordaunt admits Tories have overseen record tax rises – FT
- Sunak pledges to keep stamp duty threshold at £425K – Observer
- Hunt wants to help six-figure earners — if he keeps his seat – Sunday Times
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Infighting on the beaches: behind the scenes of the D-Day debacle
“Rishi Sunak’s aides realised immediately that his interview with ITV’s Paul Brand on Thursday afternoon was going to be a problem hanging over them for the better part of a week. In a 25-minute grilling, to be broadcast on Wednesday, the prime minister endured a torrid time over his personal wealth, leading to “frank exchanges” with his interviewer. While they focused on the incoming shelling, no one seemed to notice that Sunak had already stepped on a landmine. By returning home early from the D-Day commemorations that day, the prime minister made what may be the defining mistake of the campaign, a blunder that could detonate any chance of turning around Tory fortunes.” – Sunday Times
- Sunak handed gift to Reform with D-Day exit, say senior Tories – FT
- PM dodges questions from press – Observer
- The inside story of the D-Day disaster – Mail on Sunday
- Poll shows Tory wipeout on cards – Mail on Sunday
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Zahawi: Tories must now pledge to abolish inheritance tax
“There are those who would decry the abolition of the hated death tax as an electoral tool to win votes. You hardly need me to tell you that they would be right. And what is the problem there? All good economic policy should, if communicated properly, both make people materially better off and be politically advantageous to those with the courage to implement it. The fact of the matter is that inheritance tax is deeply unpopular. A recent poll found that inheritance tax is deemed to be the most unfair tax we levy. No wonder my fellow ex-chancellor, George Osborne, called it a “potent weapon”. I defer to him on using inheritance tax as a means to turn-around our fortunes in the opinion polls.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Sunak urged to abolish hated inheritance tax – Sunday Express
- Conservative MPs defy party bosses to take cash from Fox’s funder – Sunday Telegraph
Labour 1) Starmer’s ‘triple lock’ pledge: Labour won’t hike tax
“Sir Keir Starmer will launch the Labour manifesto this week with a cast-iron pledge not to put up income tax, national insurance or VAT. The plan, which will be revealed by the party’s leader and his shadow cabinet on Thursday, will include a “triple lock” vow that a Labour government will not raise the “big three” taxes for five years. The commitment is the same as the pledge made by Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019, which he later broke by raising national insurance to pay for social care and clearing the NHS backlog. It means that Rachel Reeves, if she becomes chancellor, will have to make spending cuts or find other tax rises.” – Sunday Times
- Labour to close tax loophole for private equity investors – Sunday Times
- Why Reeves may soon reveal her true colours on inheritance tax – Sunday Telegraph
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Labour 2) Labour’s net zero plans ‘risk blackouts and public unrest’
“Labour’s net zero plans risk leading to blackouts and public unrest, the Energy Secretary has claimed. Claire Coutinho told The Telegraph Labour’s pledge to convert Britain to clean power by 2030 – five years earlier than the Conservatives – would put the country’s energy security in jeopardy. She said her major concern about Sir Keir Starmer’s “unrealistic” target was that the UK did not yet have the renewable energy infrastructure in place “to make sure we can keep the lights on”. The Telegraph can reveal that the Tory manifesto will include a pledge to reform the remit of the official climate watchdog so it is forced to take account of the cost to households and the effect on energy security when advising ministers on carbon targets.” – Sunday Telegraph
- New Zealand to revoke oil drilling ban amid fears of blackouts – Sunday Telegraph
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Labour 3) Labour vows to disregard Nimbys and build more prisons
“Labour will overrule local opposition from Nimbys to build more prisons to tackle the overcrowding crisis, the shadow justice secretary has said. Shabana Mahmood told The Telegraph crammed prisons were a “powder keg” that could “explode” into riots, with new jails necessary for public protection. On Saturday, Labour will announce that it would deliver 14,000 additional prison places by 2030 if it wins the election. Ms Mahmood has warned prospective Labour MPs that “not in my back yard-style concerns” about new prisons in their constituencies would be rebuffed.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Labour pledges new police powers to deal with off-road bikes – Observer
- And promises new ‘rape courts’ – Observer
- He’s flashy, pro-Gaza and winning over Labour’s once-loyal Muslim vote – Sunday Times
Farage: Mark my words: Reform will be the next opposition, then government awaits
“Lifelong Conservative voters have never been more disillusioned with their party. The surprise victory of David Cameron over David Davis in the leadership election of 2005 set the Tories on a course from which it may not recover. That is why this is the moment for Reform UK, my party, to replace the Tories for good. Fourteen years of David Cameron’s social democratic policies – remember how he styled himself “the heir to Blair” – have led the party into the electoral abyss. To keep small “c” conservative voters on side all this time, the Tories have presented themselves as a low-tax party and repeatedly promised to reduce net migration to tens of thousands a year.” – Sunday Telegraph
- ‘We’re the opposition now’, declares Farage – Sunday Express
- Reform leader banks on older voters to win in Clacton – FT
- Tice fury as Reform UK candidate pulls out of race and backs Tories – Sunday Telegraph
- Reform’s plan to persuade young voters with angry banter – Sunday Times
- Who’s the convicted aristocrat at Farage’s side? – Sunday Times
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News in Brief
