LONDON (Reuters) – Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday it was not credible to promise both lower taxes and higher public spending, speaking at a launch event for his campaign to be the country’s next prime minister.
“It is not credible to promise lots more spending and lower taxes,” Sunak said.
At the same event, he received the endorsement of Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and transport minister Grant Shapps, with the latter abandoning his own bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party.
Sunak said he did not want to distance himself from the fiscal decisions he made during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to deal with the ensuing additional debt and borrowing.
“Whilst that may be politically inconvenient for me, it is also the truth. As is the fact that once we’ve gripped inflation, I will get the tax burden down,” he said.
“It is a question of when, not if.”
(Reporting by Liz Piper and Kylie macLellan, writing by William James; editing by William Schomberg)
