Labour needs to 'go in hard' on 'unfairness' of rumoured plans to scrap inheritance tax, says Jonathan Lis
15 July 2023, 15:01 | Updated: 15 July 2023, 15:04
Jonathan Lis: The Tories should not scrap inheritance tax
Jonathan Lis responded to the potential plans for the government to scrap inheritance tax ahead of the next general election, where polling experts have stated the possibility of a defeat for the Conservatives after 13 years in power.
His comments come at a time when inflation is still high at 8.7%, and weeks after the Bank of England raised interest rates for the 13th time in a row to a 15-year high of 5%.
Many public sector workers have also now been offered pay rises of at least 6%.
Jonathan Lis told Paul Brand: "Things are not going swimmingly financially for much of the country."
"What this looks like, I suspect to much of the country - correctly - would be a massive tax break handed to the very, very richest people in the country while everyone else feels shafted in every aspect of their lives", he added.
"That is not going to win the Tories an election", he continued. "It might win them a few votes of some stockbrokers in Surrey who are thinking about going for the Lib Dems, but I don't see how it's going to appeal to anyone else, because really this is about fairness."
Matt Frei on suggestions that the Tories could scrap inheritance tax
"It's true that inheritance tax might be seen as an unfair tax by people who don't pay it, and that's what the Tories are counting on, that Britain is somehow a country of embarrassed millionaires or aspirational millionaires", the political commentator added.
Mr Lis suggested the Conservatives may also be hoping that some may believe that "one day I might have the means to pass on that wealth to my children, even though I don't now", saying "Labour needs to go in hard" on the discussion about the "unfairness" of a "tax break for the richest" in society.
He reminded listeners that the last time the Conservatives tried to introduce tax cuts under Liz Truss, it "went down like a bomb", referring to the 45p tax rate cut of the doomed mini-budget which was met with a rare issue of rebuke from the International Monetary Fund.
