London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Rishi Sunak attacks Truss tax cut plan after big interest rate rise

Rishi Sunak attacks Truss tax cut plan after big interest rate rise

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said to be on holiday as Bank of England adds to dire economic outlook
Rishi Sunak has seized on the Bank of England’s historic half-point rate rise to claim that Liz Truss’s plan for unfunded tax cuts would “make everyone poorer”.

The Bank’s gloomy forecasts, published alongside the rate decision, underline the scale of the challenge facing the next prime minister, with the economy projected to plunge into a prolonged recession by the end of the year.

Despite the dire economic outlook, the Guardian has learned the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, is away from Westminster, as the caretaker government takes a back seat while the leadership contest rages.

Zahawi was said to be working remotely from a family holiday.

In a statement, the chancellor said: “There is no such thing as a holiday and not working. I never had that in the private sector, nor in government. Ask any entrepreneur and they can tell you that.”

He added: “Millions of us dream about getting away with our families, but the privilege and responsibility of public service means that you never get to switch off, that’s why I have had calls and briefings every day and continue to do so.” The prime minister is currently on holiday.

Zahawi put out a written statement on the Bank’s announcement and is holding meetings with its governor, Andrew Bailey, later on Thursday and the Treasury’s chief economist.

Sunak, the underdog in the leadership race, has repeatedly said throughout the contest that he would wait until inflation was under control, before embarking on a tax-cutting spree.

By contrast, Truss has promised £30bn worth of tax cuts, which Sunak has claimed would push up borrowing and boost inflation.

“The Bank has acted today and it is imperative that any future government grips inflation, not exacerbates it,” he said.

“Increasing borrowing will put upward pressure on interest rates, which will mean increased payments on people’s mortgages. It will also make high inflation and high prices last for longer, making everyone poorer.”

Truss has cited the rightwing economist Patrick Minford to support her argument. As he stepped up his attack on her approach, Sunak tweeted a link to a ready reckoner showing the cost to mortgage borrowers, if interest rates rose to 7%, as Minford has said they might have to.

Truss said the rate rise “underlines the need for the bold economic plan that I am advocating”.

She promised an emergency budget to “kickstart my plan to get our economy growing and offer immediate help to people struggling with their bills” though she has so far proposed few measures to deal with the cost of living, aside from suspending the green levies on energy bills, and reversing recent tax rises.

Earlier, Truss supporter Suella Braverman said that if the foreign secretary became prime minister, she would review whether the Bank’s mandate was “fit for purpose” and examine its “exclusionary independence on interest rates”.

Braverman, the attorney general, told Sky News the Tory leadership frontrunner would look again at the Bank’s powers. “Interest rates should have been raised a long time ago and the Bank of England has been too slow in this regard,” she said.

She added: “Liz Truss has made clear that she wants to review the mandate that the Bank of England has, so that’s going to be looking in detail at exactly what the Bank of England does and see whether it’s actually fit for purpose in terms of its entire exclusionary independence over interest rates.”

Truss told a Conservative hustings on Wednesday night she would alter the Bank’s mandate because of the changing economic picture. “The best way of dealing with inflation is monetary policy, and what I have said is I want to change the Bank of England’s mandate to make sure in the future it matches some of the most effective central banks in the world at controlling inflation.

“The last time the mandate was looked at was in 1997 under Gordon Brown. Things are very, very different now.”

Mel Stride, the chair of the Treasury select committee and a Sunak supporter, said it would be dangerous to cut taxes this autumn. “What we must do now is avoid stoking the inflation and making the problem even worse,” he said. “One of the ways you can make the problem very significantly worse is by coming forward with large-scale, tens of billions of pounds’ worth, of unfunded tax cuts.”

He added: “The big decision, fiscally, here is around tax. You have to do it in a measured way and at the right time but not start coming forward with tens of billions of unfunded tax cuts right now. I think that would be really quite dangerous.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×