Brits will end up “on the streets” this winter if Liz Truss does not offer more cash help for the poorest, a Tory MP warned today.
Rishi Sunak supporter Kevin Hollinrake launched the most devastating verdict yet on the likely Prime Minister’s £50bn of “magic money tree” tax cuts.
The MP for Thirsk and Malton since 2015 said cutting National Insurance will give him £30 a week and the poorest just £1.
After 12 years of Tory government, he told Sky News: “These people are going to be, you know, on the streets. Things are going to be that bad for some households. You've got to provide that targeted package of support.”
It came as Mr Sunak warned Ms Truss must choose between her tax cuts and immediate cost-of-living help this winter in a blistering new attack.
Mr Sunak said to do both “would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral.”
And he slammed revelations that Ms Truss will not ask the independent Office for Budget Responsibility to audit her emergency Budget. Ms Truss's campaign said the OBR would take too long to report back, but the IFS think tank warned March's projections were now "very out of date".
Ms Truss has not ruled out targeted help for the poorest - but has said she won't "reach first for the handout" before making tax cuts.
Those include reversing April's National Insurance hike from 12% to 13.25% and next year’s corporation tax rise from 19% to 25%.
She will also “review” the tax system to make it easier for parents or carers to be at home with loved ones, and vowed to introduce "full-fat freeports" to offer businesses tax breaks and lower tariffs.
And Ms Truss has said she will "look at" inheritance tax, raising the prospect of it being slashed.
Mr Sunak's campaign said there were more than £50bn in unfunded cuts - £19.2bn from corporation tax, £17.4bn from National Insurance, £11.6bn from axing green levies on energy bills, and £6.7bn on making the income tax personal allowance transferable.
Mr Hollinrake said the National Insurance cut would help a low income household by just £1 a week and “help a household like mine to the tune of about £30 a week”.
He told Sky News: “It’s simply not right. These people are going to be, you know, on the streets.
“Things are going to be that bad for some households. You've got to provide that targeted package of support.
“That's what Rishi did last time. That's what he's promised to do again. That's the right way to do it. And his plans are affordable.
“You’re seeing the Truss camp promises spend £65bn in tax cuts and extra spending. And that's without even providing those targeted measures of support that will inevitably be needed.
“It can't be a case of the magic money tree again.
“We've got to provide the right support but also make it targeted and affordable for taxpayers.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer today blasted Ms Truss for failing to consult the budget watchdog.
He told journalists: "We need an emergency budget. We should have had that months ago, to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. But the OBR is there to make sure that money is spent wisely and properly. So of course you need the OBR in place for that.
"That is why there has been such a reaction to Liz Truss' proposal that she is going to just put that to one side."
It came after Ms Truss, the frontrunner to be the next prime minister, signalled she could help firms and households with soaring energy bills with direct support this winter.
She was looking at assistance "across the board" despite in the past insisting she was focused on tax cuts rather than what she termed "giving out handouts".
A statement from Mr Sunak's campaign said: "Following weeks of rejecting direct support payments as 'handouts', Truss supporters have slowly woken up to the reality of what winter brings. They now say that they will provide people with help - but what help, for who, when and how it will be paid for remains a mystery.
"The reality is that Truss cannot deliver a support package as well as come good on £50 billion worth of unfunded, permanent tax cuts in one go.
"To do so would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral."
Ofgem will announce the October 1 price cap on household gas and electricity bills this Friday - and it is expected to surge from £1,971 to around £3,600 a year.
