Conservative conference: Rishi Sunak declares the ‘future is here’
Rishi Sunak has declared the “future is here” in his party conference speech as he vowed to bring the UK’s economy into the 21st century.
The chancellor said “I want tax cuts”, but that first “public finances must be put back on a sustainable footing”.
It comes after the government recently increased National Insurance Contributions for employees and employers by 1.25 per cent.
This, taken together with corporation tax increases announced in the March Budget, will bring the UK’s tax burden to its highest point since the 1960s.
“And whilst I know tax rises are unpopular, some will even say un-Conservative, I’ll tell you what is un-Conservative: Unfunded pledges reckless borrowing and soaring debt,” he said.
“Unfunded pledges, reckless borrowing and soaring debt. Anyone who tells you that you can borrow more today and tomorrow will simply sort itself out just doesn’t care about the future.”
Sunak also used his speech in Manchester to announce 2,000 new Artificial Intelligence (AI) scholarships.
“The steam engine kicked off the industrial revolution. Computers delivered automation. The internet brought information exchange,” Sunak said.
“And as the latest general purpose technology, AI has the potential to transform whole economies and societies. If Artificial Intelligence were to contribute just the average productivity increase of those three technologies that would be worth around £200bn a year to our economy.”
His speech comes as the UK is gripped by petrol and goods shortages, which are expected to drag on until Christmas.
Above expected inflation, rising energy prices and a £1,000-a-year cut to the Universal Credit uplift is also contributing to a cost of living crisis.
Some have predicted the UK is about to enter into a winter of discontent, similar to the 1978-79 crisis under the Jim Callaghan government.
Boris Johnson last week said goods shortages, that are being caused by a 100,000 shortfall in lorry drivers, were a part of a “period of adjustment” post-Brexit.
The Prime Minister said today that he would not “pull the lever” of more immigration in the short-term to stop the lorry driver shortages.
However, Sunak did not mention the cost of living squeeze in his speech.
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Bridget Phillipson said Sunak is “in denial about the scale of the economic crisis he has overseen”.
“Instead of putting forward a plan to boost our economy and invest in the skills we need and the challenges we need to face, he’s pretending there’s no work to be done,” he said.
Outspoken backbench Conservative MP Steve Baker denounced the government’s tax and spending policies, telling a fringe event at Conservative Party conference “we’re all socialists now”.
He said there were few Tories in favour of the current tax burden and increased spending.
“We are grinding miserably forward doing Ed Milliband’s Labour policies and hating every minute of it.”
Baker warned it was an “illusion” that the £12bn raised by hikes to National Insurance would solve the woes of social care.
He accused ministers of betraying traditional Conservative values and urged for a return to the “conservatism we all believe in”.