Mrs Truss’ position on the tax cuts and their relative merits has been well aired this week. Much less her stance on spending. She told reporters at a press briefing Thursday that she was not considering spending cuts.
But that would mean public spending rising to its highest level for 50 years, part of Mr Sunack’s legacy, which Truss supporters such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit secretary, have used to call him ” socialist chancellor’?
Pressed for more details, Ms Truss said she would conduct a spending review along with an emergency budget if she wins. But she played down the possibility of department spending cuts, which are set for 2024.
However, she suggests that welfare spending is one area where savings can be found. “The best way to reduce welfare spending is to help people get into work, and that’s my priority,” she said.
“We have people who are currently not working. In addition, we have a huge number of vacancies and a huge demand for staff. So we need to get the right skills, get the right training, help people work, encourage people to work, give them the support they need to get into work. This is the way to cut the welfare budget. But these things take time.
One spending promise by Boris Johnson she is keeping is the extra £36 billion he plowed into the NHS and social care, even as he reversed the money-raising tool – the 1.25 per cent rise in National Insurance which started this April .
It remains unclear when the money originally given to the NHS will be transferred to help fund the new approach to social care to contain lifetime costs. Many commentators and Tory MPs expect the withdrawal of money from the NHS as planned will never happen.
But Mrs Truss is adamant that the money must be transferred. “I want him to go to welfare. I think that’s very, very important,” she said. “And in fact, by putting it in social care, we are helping to ease the pressure on the NHS. Because what we have are people who are currently unfortunately stuck in hospital because there are no social care places available. So it’s very important to give it to social care.”
It is unclear whether she would also raise the money to keep the NHS budget at its current level when that happens.
Another area where Mrs Truss presents herself as more radical than Mr Sunak is the construction of Brexit.
Her status as a Remainer – she voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, unlike Mr Sunak – is seen as an Achilles’ heel by her political opponents.
But will this prove as politically disadvantageous as some hope? She points to securing trade deals and getting the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill through the House of Commons to support her ‘delivery’ case, and has some prominent Brexiteers on her side.
On Saturday, Mrs Truss will announce that all EU legislation transposed on the UK statute books will be given a “sunset” clause by the end of 2023 – meaning a decision will be made on whether to keep them. amend or repeal about 2,400 laws by then. Mr. Sunak made a similar promise.
Can the audit really be done in less than a year and a half? “I’m a big believer in deadlines because it motivates people to get things done,” she said. “It’s now six years since people voted to leave the European Union. We still have these laws in our statutes and they are holding us back.”
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