Robert Jenrick has warned it will be a “big task” for the next Conservative party leader to restore the party’s “economic credibility” following Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget.
The leadership candidate, speaking at a Q&A for party members at the annual conference in Birmingham, told the audience he was “not happy” about the current levels of taxation.
“I think it is very sad that we had a Conservative government for 14 years and it has left the tax burden the highest ever,” he said.
His comments came after economist Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the UK’s tax burden is likely to remain stuck at its highest level since 1948 for the foreseeable future, telling a Spectator event: “My guess is that its going to stay there.”
Jenrick added that he believed in the “dynamic effect of taxes”, arguing that he “persuaded Rishi [Sunak] to cut stamp duty during the pandemic [and] it led to the highest number of transactions in our housing market in a single year”.
He added: “One of the big tasks for me, or whoever leads this party beginning in November, is to restore our economic credibility. So I will have to work extremely hard to restore that.
“Because let’s be honest with ourselves, we did lose some of that economic credibility in recent years, particularly around the mini-Budget,” Jenrick stressed.
“I want us to be sober, competent professionals. For our party to once again be the guardians of your savings, your pensions, your small businesses. That is what people expect of our party.”
Fellow leadership candidate James Cleverly also stated his views on tax, telling the delegates: “I’m a proud Conservative. We have a fantastic history and tradition as a Conservative Party.
“We don’t need to pretend to be something else. We just need to be the better version of ourselves. So when we talk about reducing tax, let’s actually reduce tax.
“When we talk about lifting the burden of regulation, let’s actually lift the burden of regulation. When we talk about strong defence, let’s spend three per cent of GDP on defence.”
Pressed on his plans, Cleverly said: “I’m determined to bring down taxes right across the board. I’ve already said no one should have to pay more than 50 per cent of any pound that they earn.
“So short answer yes, long answer is, I am going to look to bring taxes down in as many different places as I can.”
The former home and foreign secretary also said the party needed to “get back into the habit” of winning elections in London, following a series of losses across the capital at the July election, and the historic third term win of Labour mayor Sadiq Khan in May.