The foreign minister plans to hold an emergency budget in September if elected prime minister and would try to abolish the increase in national insurance within days rather than wait until April in line with the usual rules of the treasury.
The rise was introduced in April by her leading rival Rishi Sunak in a measure aimed at raising more money for the NHS and social care.
Ms Truss wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: “I would start by raising an emergency budget and setting a firm course to grow our economy to help fund our public services and NHS.
“I would use this to immediately address the cost of living crisis by cutting taxes, reversing the rise in national insurance and suspending the green tax on energy bills.”
The Secretary of State previously insisted that tax cuts, not “handouts,” would help families with skyrocketing fuel bills this winter.
Sunak said: “It’s just wrong to rule out further direct aid at this point, as Liz Truss has done, and furthermore, her tax proposals will target people like retirees or low-income people who are exactly the kind of families who need help.”
It comes at a time when Labor analysis showed that energy bills for retirees this winter are expected to be nearly three times as high as in 2020 – rising on average from £23 a week to £72. Even taking into account the discount of £400 in October, they are expected to spend 18 per cent of their weekly spending on energy bills, an increase of seven per cent.
Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Retirees across the country worry about how they will heat their homes this winter, while Tory leaders propose fantasy tax cuts that won’t help those who need it. ”
A senior ally of Ms. Truss said she could not rule out providing more direct support to households in the winter.
Commerce Secretary Penny Mordaunt told BBC Radio 5 Live that the Foreign Secretary claimed it was “overinterpreting” what Mrs Truss had said earlier.
Ms Truss had said she would focus on “reducing the tax burden, not handing out handouts”.
Ms Mordaunt said: “Different things will be needed for different people – there is the support package that has already been put in place [and] Liz is looking at other measures.”
Former Tory co-chair and Sunak supporter Oliver Dowden called Ms Truss’s proposed tax cuts “inadequate”.
He told BBC News: “You will see utility bills rise to almost £4,000 and if you look at the idea of the tax cuts, this idea of rolling back national insurance contributions, it will only benefit someone who is working full time. works on the national living wage with less than £60.
“Unlike whoever the Prime Minister is, they get a benefit of around £1,800.
“So this is not the way to help people through this very difficult period.”
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged both candidates to agree an emergency budget with Mr Johnson this week or risk “sentencing millions of vulnerable and blameless children and retirees into a winter of abject poverty”.
“The reality is stark and undeniable: In October, a financial time bomb for families will explode as a second round of fuel price hikes in six months sends shockwaves through every household, pushing millions over the edge,” the former prime minister wrote in Sunday’s Observer. .
His report found that existing government support for low-income households is insufficient to offset the losses they face, with some families worse off by up to £1,600 a year.
The extra £1,200 being offered to the poorest in society this year will not offset the three major blows to their incomes from October 2021 to October 2022, the analysis suggests.
More than half of the public thinks the government could do more to help rising costs, but choose not to, according to a poll by opinion polling firm Public First.
The survey of 2,011 people also found that 64% find it difficult or impossible to pay the energy bill.
Tory MP Damian Hinds admitted that the aid package Mr Sunak had drafted as chancellor was not enough in these “extremely difficult times”, and suggested more would come if he became prime minister.
He told Sky News: “Things have gotten worse, even since that was introduced in terms of projections for utility bills…
At The Yorkshire Post, we are committed to speaking the truth against power on behalf of the people who call God’s Own County home. Our political team and Westminster Correspondent are the eyes and ears of Yorkshire in the corridors of power.
0 Comments