The real value of benefits has now been cut in seven of the last 10 years – but voters no longer back such callousness. Most pernicious is not the worker strikes, as he has claimed, but his plan to massively reduce next year’s universal credit hike, no longer raising it with inflation. Of course, he never admitted what’s to come, when his failure to compensate departments for inflation and pay rises cripples the NHS, schools, courts, local councils and everything else. Unfunded tax cuts of £43bn will, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says, be converted into brutal spending cuts. Abolition of the bankers’ bonus cap remains, unashamed. This proud austerian’s speech was shorn of the “all in it together” pretences of the more devious George Osborne. Everyone also knows that they stand to lose far more than they gain, despite his over-boasted and unwanted tax cuts. Despite his U-turn, the richest will still gain 40 times more from his tax cuts than low earners, according to the Resolution Foundation – and now everyone knows it. It let everyone see who they are, and no amount of “pitch rolling” would have rescued them. Far from a “distraction”, that 45p tax rate cut for the mega-rich illuminated the entire Kwarteng/Truss enterprise. To find the reasons why, look no further than Kwarteng’s speech to see how they overreach themselves and misunderstand their country.
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