Britain’s Conservatives seem oblivious to the coming budget crunch
It is a bad time to be increasing deficits to pay for tax cuts
A little more than a decade after the Conservatives declared Britain to be on the brink of a bond-market crisis, many of the candidates to lead the party—and therefore the country—are promising to dole out plenty of cash. Tom Tugendhat wants to reverse a recent increase in national insurance, a payroll tax. Liz Truss wants to do that and cancel a planned rise in corporation tax. Penny Mordaunt, the bookies’ favourite, wants to peg most tax thresholds to inflation and temporarily halve vat on petrol.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “British understatement”
Leaders July 16th 2022
- Europe’s winter of discontent
- The Democrats need to wake up and stop pandering to their extremes
- Japan should stay true to Abe Shinzo’s vision—up to a point
- Britain’s Conservatives seem oblivious to the coming budget crunch
- What to do now about tomorrow’s code-cracking computers
- The Catholic Church should scrap the requirement for priestly celibacy
From the July 16th 2022 edition
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