Insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If that is the case, then Jeremy Hunt resorting to arguments that an economy can cut its way to growth may well be judged to be mad. Mr Hunt insisted during his hour-long budget speech that his policies were working when they are not. Is it any surprise voters aren’t listening?
The audience for Mr Hunt’s austerity-infused oration in parliament was behind him. If he had voters in mind, the chancellor would have made good on Rishi Sunak’s 2022 pledge for crowd-pleasing income tax cuts. Instead, he sought to nullify the arguments of backbench critics by reducing national insurance by 2p, and playing to the gallery by quoting a discredited rightwing economic theory – the Laffer curve – that says lower tax rates for the rich will lead to higher tax revenues.
