Sunak will vow to tackle inflation and then lower taxes if he becomes PM

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak will kick off his leadership campaign on Tuesday with a promise to grip inflation and lower taxes, as speculation mounted over which candidates could swing in behind the former chancellor.

Sunak will promise “a return to traditional Conservative economic values – and that means honesty and responsibility, not fairytales.”

The frontrunner was endorsed on Monday by fellow former chancellor Norman Lamont, who said Margaret Thatcher would have favoured tackling the deficit over tax cuts – and hinted at the approach Sunak could take to slashing public spending.

“To weather the storm requires a high degree of competence, matched by the courage to make really tough decisions. The public understand this better than many politicians and will respond,” Lord Lamont said. “Tax cuts unmatched by spending cuts achieve nothing.”

In his speech, Sunak will say tax cuts now would stoke inflation and increase borrowing. “I have had to make some of the most difficult choices in my life when I was chancellor, in particular how to deal with our debt and borrowing after Covid,” he will say.

In a swipe at colleagues who have denounced tax rises that they voted for in cabinet, he will say: “I certainly won’t pretend now that the choices I made, and the things I voted for, were somehow not necessary. Whilst this may be politically inconvenient, it is the truth.

“My message to the party and the country is simple: I have a plan to steer our country through these headwinds. Once we have gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down. It is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.”

Sunak, who resigned as chancellor last week, will face questions for the first time since the fall of Boris Johnson’s government. MPs across the right of the party fear