Forget tax cuts. We need a tax rise – or Britain’s public services will collapse

Jeremy Hunt speaking in the House of Commons, London, 17 October 2022. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/Reuters

Jeremy Hunt talks about having to make decisions of “eye-watering difficulty”. The assumption is that he is talking of yet more cuts to our beleaguered public sector, but I have another suggestion. Why not put 2p on the basic rate of income tax?

Taking it up to 22% would raise about £10bn a year and thus, while it may not be the entire solution to our current difficulties, it would greatly relieve the pressure for cuts to essential services, some of which are already in a dire state.