Liz Truss today proclaimed her tax cuts are “fair”, while sitting in front of a big graph that showed they’ll give the rich 235 times more than the poor.
The frontrunner for Prime Minister was confronted with the effect of her decision to reverse April’s National Insurance rise from 12% to 13.25%.
The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies said the change will give the poorest tenth just £7.66 a year. By comparison the richest tenth gain £1,801.89.
Asked if it was “fair” that her tax cut would help the rich more than the poor, Ms Truss told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is fair. We promised in our manifesto that we would not raise National Insurance.”
The massive gulf is because National Insurance is now only charged on earnings above £12,570 a year.
That means it does little to nothing for families on minimum wage or who are out of work due to sickness or disability.
The IFS data suggests the poorest tenth of people will gain £7.66 a year, followed by £37.36 for the second-poorest tenth, then £73.33, £143.52, £247.59, £375.89, £510.59, £695.92, £918.50 and finally £1,801.89 for the richest tenth.
The average benefit from the tax cut is £481.23 a year, the think tank suggested - including firms passing on savings from lower employer contributions.
Previous analysis has come up with similar figures. The Tony Blair Institute previously said her National Insurance cut will be worth 76p a month for the worst-off tenth of households, and £93.19 for the richest tenth.
In a stark warning she will not always prioritise helping the neediest, she said: “The people at the top of the income distribution pay more tax.
"So inevitably when you cut taxes, you tend to benefit people who are more likely to pay tax.
"To look at everything through the lens of redistribution I believe is wrong.
"Because what I am about is growing the economy, and growing the economy benefits everybody."
And on the economy more generally she added: "I don't think we should be predicting a sort of Armageddon scenario. I think we are in a good position to deal with what are very very tough challenges."
Ms Truss today pledged to make an announcement on energy bills this week if she is named Tory leader. But she repeatedly refused to say what it will be.
Ms Truss - the favourite to be named the next PM at 12.30pm tomorrow and confirmed by the Queen at Balmoral on Tuesday - said her announcement will come before an emergency budget, tipped for September 21.
She said: "If I’m elected as Prime Minister, within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the issue of energy bills and of long term supply to put this country on the right footing for winter."
Yet asked repeatedly to say what it'll be, she added: "I’m not going to go into details of what a putative announcement would be before."
Labour's Emily Thornberry said people "are desperate", adding: "It's extraordinary that we've had a leadership election that has gone on for weeks and weeks, and yet the two leadership candidates cannot give a specific answer to the one question, frankly, that everybody wants the answer to.
"Which is what the heck is going to happen to my bills? What is going to happen?
"You're going to have the majority of the country in fuel poverty unless something is done."
