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A mini budget full of lies from Rishi Sunak, the people’s millionaire | John Crace

He’s says he’s cutting taxes while raising them to the highest level since the 40s. Don’t tell us it’s raining, Rishi

At least the speech was short and sweet, coming in at little more than 25 minutes. Rishi Sunak, well, he was not so sweet. The chancellor likes to portray himself as a man of the people. Someone who gets the everyday struggles. A man who feels our pain. A tough call for a millionaire married to a billionaire. Then I guess he would argue that poverty is relative. And compared to his wife, he’s broke. Sunak also prides himself on being someone who levels with the country. A man who can be trusted to be straight, even when delivering bad news.

Neither version of himself survives the slightest contact with reality. Rather he is the worst of both worlds. A chancellor with a veneer of empathy. Who can deliver a spring statement – aka a seismic budget in any other year – that offers nothing to the poorest and most vulnerable members of society while sobbing on their behalf. Who told the chamber with a straight face that he is committed to cutting taxes even when the Office of Budget Responsibility is saying that the tax burden is set to go up to 36.3% by 2026: the highest level since the 1940s.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/80BNGwD

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