Rishi Sunak fuels May election hype with cryptic answer on BBC Radio 2
Rishi Sunak has refused to hose down speculation about a snap May election - giving a cryptic response when asked.
The PM is under intense pressure to finally call an election after yesterday's Budget fell flat. But he's previously said he doesn't intend to go the polls until the second half of the year.
However there's been plenty of talk about a snap poll after Jeremy Hunt delivered the Budget earlier than previous years. Asked by BBC presenter Jeremy Vine whether the talk of a May poll is wide of the mark, Mr Sunak stammered: "I'm not going to say anything extra about that. What I would say is what matters is the choice, and the choice, especially after this Budget, is clear.
"Our plans are working. Of course there's more work to do, we are starting to deliver the change that people want to see and if we stick with that plan people can have the peace of mind that there is a brighter future for them and their families."
A tetchy Mr Sunak defended the Government's record after the Radio 2 host questioned whether the Budget was a "Conservative fightback" or "the dying actions of a government that's already packing its bags."
Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites
Despite the Budget failing to impress - with Tory backbenchers including Suella Braverman taking potshots at him - Mr Sunak insisted the Tories are "starting to deliver the change that people want to see".
Speaking to voters at a pub in South Yorkshire, he stuck by his uncosted claim that he'd scrap National Insurance altogether. He described it as his "long-term ambition". Labour has pointed out this would cost £46billion a year and accused Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt of acting like disaster duo Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng.
Pat McFadden, Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator, said: “The Conservatives’ Budget confirmed what working people already knew: taxes are still rising, prices are still going up in the shops, and mortgages are higher.
“Rishi Sunak should stop squatting in Downing Street and give the country what it desperately needs – a chance for change. The Prime Minister needs to finally come clean with the public and name the date of an election now."
The PM said: "The reason we have chosen to cut national insurance in particular is because it's a tak on work. We have this unfairness at the moment where if you're working, you pay tax twice, once in income tax and then again in national insurance.
"That's unnecessarily complicated because all of that money ultimately goes into the same pot, funds the same public services. But ultimately, as I said, it's unfair because you are paying tax not once but twice. But my ultimate ambition is to remove that unfairness entirely, and if we stick to our plan, not just will we deliver the £900 of tax cuts this year, we can really make progress towards that long-term ambition over time in the next Parliament."
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