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Louise Thomas
Editor
Tory leadership contender James Cleverly refused three times to disown the economic chaos which took place under Liz Truss’ leadership after his plan to scrap stamp duty on house sales was likened to policies introduced by the former prime minister.
The pledge, which he said would cost £10 billion, was compared in a radio interview to the disastrous tax cuts introduced by Ms Truss’ government.
Mishal Hussain, host of BBC Radio 4 Today claimed the move was “the kind of thing” the former prime minister – who resigned just 49 days after taking office – had done.
Mr Cleverly replied: “Are you seriously suggesting a prospective leader of the Conservative Party should not envisage any tax cuts in our society?”
Pressed again, he said: “Your argument is because one of my predecessors proposed it we can never propose it. This is why we have the highest tax burden since the (Second World) War.”
Asked outright by Ms Hussain: “Was (Ms Truss) right”, Mr Cleverly responded: “We are taxed too highly. If we as Conservatives are not prepared to make the case for a more lightly regulated, taxed, faster growing economy we will not be able to afford the public services people rely upon.”
He said that stamp duty “stagnates the market”, saying his party should “have the courage” to cut taxes in order to create a “genuinely vibrant high paid economy”.
“At the last general election, my party, the Conservative Party was being criticised by the Labour Party for taxing too much. If we don’t start cutting taxes, we stifle the economy and we will ultimately not be able to thrive as a country”, Mr Cleverly said.
Ms Truss resigned following her disastrous mini-budget which caused chaos in the markets.
In the fiscal statement, she announced plans to double the threshold at which stamp duty is paid on property purchases from £125,000 to £250,000. The threshold at which first-time buyers would have to pay stamp duty was raised from £300,000 to £425,000.
The move was one of the few measures to survive after Jeremy Hunt was appointed chancellor and shredded Ms Truss’s financial plans in a bid to balance the books.
Mr Cleverly, who will address the main stage of the Conservative Party Conference alongside his fellow leadership candidates on Wednesday, is set to issue an appeal for optimism and Conservatism “with a smile”.
He will say: “Let’s be enthusiastic; relatable; positive; optimistic.
“Let’s sell the benefits of a Conservative government with a smile. We will not win back voters by pretending to be something we’re not. We win back voters by being honest, by being professional, by being Conservative.”
“What can be more optimistic than helping people buy their own home like my Dad did? Or bringing thousands of new-born children into the world like my Mum did?
“That is what a politician and a political party should be. Optimistic and believing in the future, but also doing the work to build that future”, Mr Cleverly will add.
