Sir John, a member of the European Research Group (ERG), outlined his stance today in a series of early morning tweets, taking a critical look at Mr Sunak’s time as chancellor, which was cut short by his resignation last month. . Mr Sunak42, and Mrs Truss44, fighting for the leadership of the Conservative Party after the resignation of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson’s own decision was partly prompted by Mr Sunak’s decision to quit, minutes after Health Minister Sajid Javid did the same.
Mr Redwood wrote: “Good to hear that Liz has plans to get more people into work. They will be better off and the high benefit law will come under better control.
“We need lower taxes, higher incomes for the many and fewer people who need benefits. That is a practical and positive vision.”
By contrast, he referred to Mr Sunak’s mini-budget in March, in which the MP for Richmond increased the amount people can earn before paying national insurance from £9,880 to £12,570.
He commented: “Rishi’s flip flops do damage. An increase in National Insurance broke a promise.
“Then he cut off the rise. He said he needed all the extra revenue for the NHS, although he greatly underestimated other tax revenues.
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“Why did he accept OBR forecasts that grossly overestimate the deficit and understate tax revenues by £77bn?
“Why did he think he was short of £12 billion and needed a tax increase?”
During the first official talks with Tory members in Leeds last night, Mr Sunak said: “We will reduce VAT on fuel.
“But what I’m not going to do is borrow tens and tens of billions of pounds in unfunded pledges and put them on the country’s credit card, and pass them on to our children and grandchildren to pick up the bill.
“That’s not right. That’s not responsible and certainly not conservative. But once we get inflation under control and make sure that mortgage rates don’t go up and people get crippled, of course I’m going to cut taxes.”
Meanwhile, South West Norfolk MP, Ms Truss, who received the approval of Defense Secretary Ben Wallace today, criticized windfalls – something Mr Sunak once imposed on energy companies when he was Chancellor.
She said: “I don’t believe in windfall gains because they postpone future investments. What we should be doing is encouraging Shell and other companies to invest in the UK because we need to increase our productivity, we need capital investment.
“What I would do is create low-tax investment zones and encourage those companies to invest in our country.
Ms Truss added: “I think windfall taxes are sending the wrong message to the world. They are not sending the message that Britain is open for business.
“And really, we now need to use more of our North Sea reserves to help people with the cost of living, and I would do that in addition to a temporary moratorium on the green energy tax to really help people with their bills.”