'Like all schemers, chisellers and scammers, Jeremy Hunt flattered to deceive'

15 March 2023 , 16:19

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Jeremy Hunt wanted voters to sign on dotted line before reading the small print (Image: Getty Images)

Jeremy Hunt today provided definitive proof the best conmen are the most plausible.

To listen to the Chancellor you would be forgiven for thinking the Tories had successfully managed the economy for the last 13 years.

Lulled by his reasonableness you could almost believe the country was on the road to prosperity.

At times, his patter was so innocuous he almost mugged people into thinking the Tories were on their side.

Like all schemers, chisellers and scammers Hunt flattered to deceive.

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He wanted voters to sign on the dotted line before they read the small print in the lengthy terms and conditions.

When he claimed the Government had delivered financial stability he expected people to forget he was having to clean up the mess and destruction left by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng.

The Chancellor scorched from the records his party’s record in office (PA)

When he complained the UK had one of the most expensive systems of childcare in the world, he wanted you to wipe from your memory which government was responsible for this situation.

The Budget was the greatest rewriting of history since the publication of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The Chancellor scorched from the records his party’s record in office and then tried to claim credit for pressing the restart button.

The decline in business investment? The failure to secure UK energy supplies? The anaemic growth of the last decade?

All of these must have been the responsibility of some other party.

Those searching for an accurate account of the state of the economy had to look in the report by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

It was there you found that, far from being a Budget for jobs and growth, living standards are expected to fall by 6% this year and next - the largest two-year fall since records began in the 1950s.

And it was the OBR which noted the tax burden will reach a post-war high of 37.7% by 2026.

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The only tax break announced by Hunt was the £800million he will spend reducing the pension burden for a few thousand wealthy people.

Even the best con artists get caught out in the end.

Hunt’s bluster was exposed when it emerged he is handing a massive tax cut to wealthy doctors while giving nothing extra to nurses and porters.

This was not a piece of salesmanship but the selling of public sector workers down the river.

Jason Beattie