Liz Truss will “crash the public finances” if she pursues a huge VAT cut, a leading economist is warning, amid fresh confusion over her plans for the cost of living emergency.
The likely next prime minister has floated a plan to slash 5 per cent off the 20 per cent sales tax – but the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has called the idea “quite worrying”.
Ms Truss is also mulling reversing a four-year freeze on income tax thresholds and has sent out conflicting briefings on what help she will provide with soaring energy bills.