Jeremy Hunt was asked if he was “Kwasi Kwarteng 2.0” as he dropped his clearest hint yet that more tax cuts are on the way before the general election.
The chancellor was compared to his predecessor - who was forced to quit in the wake of the disastrous mini-Budget in 2022 - as he refused to rule out more reductions in National Insurance on BBC Breakfast this morning.
Presenter John Kay pointed out that in a report yesterday, the International Monetary Fund warned that the UK economy could not afford more tax cuts this year.
He said: “They’re saying the economy can’t stand it, that you don’t have enough money. Will you bear that in mind in the months ahead?”
Hunt said the government had “a respectful disagreement” with the IMF on tax cuts.
He said: “We look around the world and we see that the fastest growing economies in north America and Asia are the ones that tend to have lower taxes.”
Kay hit back: “So you’re going to cut taxes, aren’t you? You’re going to ignore their warnings and do it before the election.”
He added: “Two minutes ago, you told us that Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss made mistakes with the economy, and now you are saying that you’re very prepared by the sounds of it to cut taxes against all the warnings from the IMF.
“Are you potentially Kwasi Kwarteng 2.0?”
Hunt replied: “No, and I made it very clear that every time we’ve cut taxes it’s because we can afford to do it and we’ve done it without increasing borrowing, and that was the mistake that Kwasi made.”