Are Tories manufacturing a struggle within their ranks to make themselves look less mean?
Robert Halfon says fuel duty rise would hit small businesses, bus fares and food prices [Image: Hannah Mckay/EPA].
Isn’t it more likely that he is simply trying to make the Conservatives look more acceptable?
Expect arguments to be aired, making it seem there is no alternative (remember TINA?) to taxing the poor and the middle classes, while giving the rich everything they could possibly want.
The real solution was put forward by Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to the general election, of course: Increase taxes for the top five per cent of earners.
It would be political suicide to raise fuel duty & toxic tax hard working drivers & small biz @FairFuelUK @steve_hawkes @halfon4harlowMP
— Howard Cox (@HowardCCox) July 30, 2017
Leave the working class alone. Tax the wealthy who can afford it. IT'S NOT HARD!!
— Simon Johnson (@sbjohnson14) July 30, 2017
A Tory MP and former minister who has been a cheerleader for so-called “blue-collar Conservatism” has warned against any tax rises that would hit working families.
Robert Halfon spoke out after it emerged that the chancellor, Philip Hammond, was considering additional levies on fuel, homes and pension relief as a way of plugging the hole in public finances.
Responding in particular to the suggestion that Hammond could end a long-term freeze on fuel duty increases, the Harlow MP said: “This war on motorists has got to stop.”
Halfon, who has been credited as a key campaigner on fair fuel prices, argued that the Conservative party ought to be reducing the burden on drivers not increasing it.
Source: Tory MP and former minister speaks out against tax increases | Politics | The Guardian
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I’m not sure that the tories are clever enough for this. To be fair, there have always been a few- i.e. not many who have had some sympathy for the working class. I think the chaos in the tory party stems from their competitivness and their meanness.
Jonson, Gove and Davies will be eyeing the situation with increasing interest. Whilst the Maybot’s away, the rats will play.
It’s a classic Tory tactic.