Truss tax plans could put millions at risk of ‘real destitution’, says Sunak

theguardian.com:

Liz Truss’s tax cut-based approach to the energy crisis risks putting millions of Britons in “real destitution”, Rishi Sunak has warned, as the Conservative leadership candidates again clashed bitterly over economic policy.

The hustings event on Thursday in Cheltenham, a key Tory-held marginal seat, also saw the foreign secretary effectively rule out any increased windfall tax on energy firm profits, as she hit out at the “depressing” sight of fields used for solar power.

Sunak’s vehement comments came after Truss, in her own Q&A session at the event, reiterated her belief that tax cuts should be the main response to soaring bills.

Truss told the audience of Tory members this would always be her “first port of call”, followed by a focus on longer-term energy supply issues such as support for fracking and nuclear power.

Also promising she would not call an election before 2024, Truss said she could provide other assistance, but gave no details, saying she “can’t write the chancellor’s budget” before even being elected as prime minister.

“If the answer to every question is raising tax, we will choke off economic growth, and we will send ourselves to penury, and I think that’s a massive problem,” she argued.

Speaking after her, Sunak castigated Truss for what he said was a lack of action to help people who would not benefit from her planned reduction in national insurance contributions, including pensioners and those not in work.

“We are going to, as a Conservative government, leave millions of incredibly vulnerable people at the risk of real destitution,” the former chancellor said. “And I think that’s a real moral failure.”

To do this would mean “the country will never, ever forgive us”, he added.

Truss also said she would