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Rishi Sunak was today warned against plunging the UK into a new era of austerity as new polls showed voters would rather see tax rises than cuts to public services. Research for The Independent by Savanta ComRes found overwhelming support – including among Tory voters – for a sweeping windfall levy on energy companies and the introduction of a wealth tax on property and other assets to ease the financial crisis that faced by the British. With half (50 per cent) saying their personal finances are getting worse, one in five (20 per cent) fear for their job and almost a third (29 per cent) worry they might not be able to pay their rent or his mortgage, only a third (32 per cent) trusted the Conservative government to handle the financial crisis – 17 points behind Labour, with Keir Starmer ahead of both Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt. The prime minister and chancellor will use Thursday’s Autumn Statement in the House of Commons to outline plans to plug a gap of up to £60bn in public finances and appear to be aiming to hand out £35bn in spending cuts and £25bn in tax rises 25 billion Proposals to slow increases in planned annual budgets from 3.7 per cent to 1 per cent after 2025 could bring in £25bn, but below-inflation rises would deal a brutal blow to services such as schools, policing and local government and would increase pressure on the beleaguered NHS. Sunak and Hunt are under intense pressure from Conservative MPs to limit the scale of tax increases. But unions and economists warn the public spending cut risks prolonging the UK’s recession – already forecast to be the worst for 100 years – in a repeat of the lost decade of growth that followed George’s austerity measures Osborne in the 2010s. “For the last decade, we’ve had this idea that economic or fiscal credibility required us to cut public services and let wages fall,” TUC finance chief Kate Bell told The Independent. “And what did we get? The lowest growth in decades, rising debt levels and a country that was completely unprepared for the shocks that hit us in recent years. “I really challenge anyone to look around the UK at the moment and say what we have are overfunded public services and overpaid public servants. There is nothing left to give.” And Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told the Independent: “The Tories have no idea. First they tried Liz Truss’ growth plan without fiscal precision and it destroyed our economy. “Now they want to end as they started – with austerity and no development plan. “To make our economy stronger and flourish, you need to have financial capacity and a proper growth plan. That’s what Labor will bring.” Economics professor Arun Advani of Warwick University told the Independent it would be a “missed opportunity” if Mr Hunt took the “easy way out” of tinkering with the existing tax regime, rather than seizing the opportunity offered by public support for reform. system that currently taxes earnings from work more heavily than income from wealth. Prof Advani, a member of the Wealth Tax Commission, which in 2020 recommended a one-off levy on the wealth and assets of the wealthiest to pay part of the cost of Covid, said it would be “natural” to extend the windfall tax during the current rise in energy prices. But he said Mr Hunt should go further and consider balancing capital gains tax – currently levied at 20 or 28 per cent on higher-rate taxpayers – with the 40pc income tax rate. , as well as reforming national insurance to collect income from assets in the same way as earnings from work. And he said a 1 per cent tax on total wealth above £10bn could raise £11bn a year – the equivalent of 2p in income tax and enough to massively ease the pressure on public spending. “Since we have this big crisis in which we have a lot of money to raise, the chancellor has two options,” Professor Advani said. “One is to take the quiet, easy way out and do things that don’t really help the economy but hopefully won’t bother people too much because they’re not politically bold. “The other – which would make much more sense – is to use this as an opportunity to reform the system in a way that will raise money, support growth and correct the injustice that means work pays less well than wealth. Jeremy Hunt warns ‘there will be very tough choices’ as UK enters recession “For a Conservative government to make it harder to get money out of work than out of wealth seems very strange.” Today’s poll showed voters fear the impact of the cuts on everyday life already hit by travel disruption, overcrowded schools, a crumbling care system and long waits for GP appointments. The findings highlight the political risk for Mr Sunak that an austerity budget could further erode the Tories’ abysmal position in the polls, with Labor recording a 20-30 point lead just 18 months before a possible general election. Just 22 percent of respondents said they would support cuts to public services in Thursday’s statement, compared to 55 percent who would oppose them. Opposition rose to 66 per cent when asked whether NHS resources should be cut, with just 17 per cent supporting reduced spending. And opposition to the cuts reached across the political spectrum, with 69 per cent of Conservative voters opposed to cutting spending on the NHS and 51 per cent on public services in general. Just 14 per cent of Tory voters supported cuts to the NHS and 22 per cent to other services. In contrast, 31 per cent supported increases in income tax or national insurance – with 40 per cent opposed in either case. And a huge 66 per cent backed extending the windfall 25 per cent tax on North Sea oil and gas – currently due to expire in 2026 – with just 11 per cent opposed. Property taxes also garnered strong support, with 56 percent in favor and just 18 percent against. Tory voters from the 2019 election were even more enthusiastic, with 77 per cent backing a windfall tax extension and 58 per cent property taxes. Ms Bell said the multi-billion pound restructuring package being drawn up by Sunak and Hunt was “a political choice, not an economic necessity”. Markets would not react to an alternative investment lending package with the same panic sparked by Liz Truss’s unfunded tax cuts, he said, arguing that businesses would welcome a boost to growth from improved infrastructure, the better educated personnel and reductions in sick leave. “We’ve already seen the Bank of England warning of a recession. we have seen warnings of an extra million people out of work. We are in the most wage pressure for 200 years,” he said. “What the economy doesn’t need is a slowdown. What is needed is a credible growth plan that would require us to invest rather than cut our public services. Nothing we’re hearing so far seems to do that. “Instead, Sunak and Hunt are choosing to repeat the mistakes of the Cameron and Osborne governments by abandoning growth and imposing a heavy dose of austerity on the UK economy.” Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,236 British adults on 5 and 6 November.
