Liz Truss’s tax and spending plans sow consternation among economists
Liz Truss claims her economic agenda of tax cuts and public spending will revitalise the UK economy, but it is not just her rival prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak arguing that the measures will be self-defeating.
Economists have lined up to warn that her £30bn package – including the reversal of this year’s national insurance rise, the suspension of green levies on power bills, and the cancellation of a sharp rise in corporation tax in 2023 – will increase inflation and leave the government with higher debt bills.
The foreign secretary and frontrunner in the race for the Tory leadership has criticised the Treasury’s economic record during her opponent’s time as chancellor, saying it has been timid and “contractionary” when it should have been promoting growth.
Citing other European countries that have spent more money supporting households hit by the cost of living crisis, Truss has said she would allow people to keep more of their own money by taxing less. She has also touted a carer’s allowance and pushing defence spending up to 3% of GDP – amounting to an extra £86bn over the next five years – as ways to help the UK avoid a recession.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England has come under attack from Truss and her allies because she claims looser government spending should have a counterweight in tighter policy on controlling the money supply.
Harking back to Margaret Thatcher’s stance in 1979, Truss believes inflation is partly the result of cheap borrowing fostered by the central bank, so tighter monetary policy would limit rising prices. Last weekend she said the government should “look again” at the Bank’s mandate “to make sure it is tough enough on inflation”.
At the moment the BoE is independent and arrives at its own
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