Rishi Sunak has committed to taking 4p off income tax within seven years if he becomes prime minister, in a last-ditch attempt to win over Tory members before they start receiving their ballots this week.
The Conservative leadership candidate’s campaign said cutting the basic rate from 20p in the pound to 16p would amount to a 20% tax reduction, the “largest cut to income tax in thirty years”. But he immediately faced renewed accusations of “flip flops and U-turns” on tax from supporters of his rival for the premiership, Liz Truss.
The former chancellor suggested Ms Truss was being dishonest with voters with promises of sweeping tax cuts and engaging in an “act of self-sabotage that condemns our party to defeat” at the next general election. While Mr Sunak said the policy was part of his “radical” tax vision, it built on his previously-announced penny cut to income tax in April 2024.
