Dominic Raab slams Truss' tax-cutting policy as 'electoral suicide note'; latter responds

Supporter of former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak for the position of the British Premier, Dominic Raab, on Tuesday, Aug 9 said that if Foreign Secretary Liz Truss implemented her controversial tax cuts it will be an “electoral suicide note” for the UK's Conservative party. The deputy prime minister of the UK, in a piece published by the British newspaper The Times, warned that Truss'  proposed tax cuts will not, in any way, protect the people of the United Kingdom from the rising cost of living crisis and inflation. 

Truss, in a response to Raab, said that Rishi Sunak's supporters [Raab] was spreading "portents of doom". She dismissed Raab's concerns as "declinist talk" as she insisted that the UK could "look forward to the future with optimism."  "What I care about is Britain being successful. I don't agree with these portents of doom. I don't agree with this declinist talk," she said. "I believe our country's best days are ahead of us."

Conservative will spiral into impotent oblivion of opposition: Raab

Slamming Truss tax cut proposal, Raab wrote in the newspaper that if the UK implements the "emergency budget in September that fails to measure up to the task in hand, voters will not forgive us as they see their living standards eroded and the financial security they cherish disappear before their eyes."

“Such a failure will read unmistakenly to the public like an electoral suicide note and, as sure as night follows day, see our great party cast into the impotent oblivion of opposition," he continued. 

Former British chancellor Rishi Sunak had laid out his tax cut policy stating that he would slash the income tax for the Britons in 2024 from 20 per cent to 19 per cent and 6 per cent by 2029. Sunak also slammed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss' £30 billion tax cut plans that he stated can “add fuel to the fire” of inflation, as he announced the VAT cuts on energy bills to provide relief to the UK consumers from the high cost of living. 

Sunak also pledged that he would slash taxes by 20% by the end of the decade. "Firstly I will never get taxes down in a way that just puts inflation up," Sunak said, as per Sky news. "Secondly I will never make promises I can't pay for. And thirdly I will always be honest about the challenges we face," he had added. 

According to Raab, who supports Sunak's tax proposal plans, Liz Truss' campaign should instead focus on the policies that “shield those people from the full force of the serious global economic headwinds we now face”. He echoed the concerns of Sunak, who said that Truss' tax proposal and tax cuts in an emergency budget are a “big bung” for large businesses. Raab described Truss' policy proposal as “bad politics." He wrote, “As Conservative Party members decide which way to cast their vote over the coming weeks, I urge them to consider this point carefully."