A Sky News presenter this morning slammed James Cleverly over an “insidious” Tory policy which has saddled millions with higher tax bills.
Matt Barbet took issue with the home secretary’s claim that the Conservatives are cutting taxes.
He pointed out that the government’s decision to freeze salary thresholds - a process known as “fiscal drag” - has led to workers across the country paying more income tax.
Cleverly admitted that taxes were “currently higher than we would like”, but blamed that on the cost of the pandemic and the spike in energy bills caused by the war in Ukraine.
But Barbet said: “You’ve given with one hand in terms of the National Insurance cuts we’ve seen over the past few months, and taken more away with the other in terms of fiscal drag - more people being dragged into paying higher rates of income tax. That is an insidious policy, isn’t it?”
The home secretary replied: “I’ve explained why taxes are currently higher than we would like because of those genuinely unique set of circumstances over the last couple of years.”
Barbet also pointed out that corporation tax has gone up under the Tories, adding: “What does that do for business?”
Cleverly said the Tories were “focusing on working people”.
He added: “We’re determined to bring taxes down. We have started to do that and we have focused the initial work on those hardworking families who have struggled because of the war in Ukraine and Covid, and we are determined to do more.”