Saturday 19 November 2022 12:50 AM DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Prove to the strivers you're on their side trends now
As the strivers of Middle Britain were coming to terms with a Budget that has made their already difficult lives even harder, the architect of their pain spent yesterday trying to justify his actions.
Beleaguered families were already groaning under the highest tax burden since the 1950s. Steepling gas prices and food inflation in recent months have further strained their budgets.
So being told they must pay even more of their diminishing income to the State was an agonising body blow. That this raid was carried out by a Tory government made it positively mystifying.
As the Mail said in this column yesterday, many of those affected are natural Conservative voters. Will that be true come the next election? Or will they feel so betrayed that they simply turn away?
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledged yesterday that his tax blitz on middle earners and businesses was a bitter pill to swallow.
As the strivers of Middle Britain were coming to terms with a Budget that has made their already difficult lives even harder, the architect of their pain spent yesterday trying to justify his actions
But he was unapologetic. His overriding mission was to force the inflation genie back into the bottle. Until that was achieved, he said, there could be no meaningful recovery.
Strikes and spiralling pay awards, the cost of living crunch, and rising interest rates were all driven by inflation. For stability to be restored, it had to be conquered.
Addressing sceptical Tory supporters yesterday, Mr Hunt pledged that the tax rises would be accompanied by a passionate assault on public sector waste and the tangle of EU red tape that is holding British companies back.
He promised special focus on liberating those high-tech industries in which Britain leads the world – life sciences,
