BBC TV debate: Rishi Sunak's robotic obsession with tax misses public mood and anger

To every question, Sunak came back to tax. Asked about welfare, “I’m going to cut your taxes”. When questioned about the quality of candidates, Sunak again said he would cut taxes. Even when asked about Brexit and improving relations with the EU, the Prime Minister said he would cut taxes for self-employed people.

Like a malfunctioning toy obsessed with fiscal policy every response was “tax, tax, tax”. “Mark my words, your pension, your council tax, your home, your car,” he said. “Do not surrender your family finances to the Labour Party.” 

The Tories’ tactics are clear - hit Labour on tax over and over again. In some ways, it’s a simple and effective strategy of very specific messages. It also shows that after 14 years in power, the Conservatives are clearly out of ideas.

The problem for the Prime Minister is that it doesn’t appear the public are listening. In the two fiscal events before the general election, Sunak and Jeremy Hunt cut national insurance contributions. In their manifesto, they say they will cut it again (in three years’ time) and all campaign the Prime Minister has said Labour will put up your taxes. I should say here that Keir Starmer has said he would not put up income tax, national insurance or VAT.

But despite all of that, the polls have not changed - in fact support for the Tories has gone down. It reminds me of the saying about madness, trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Across the country, voters are beset by apathy and feel that things are broken. NHS waiting lists are huge, dangerous prisoners are being released early, sewage is gushing into our rivers while schools are literally crumbling to the ground. 

People want more from their politicians, more than just being bleated to about tax like a parrot. Remember that under the current government, the tax burden reached the highest level since 1949. Numerous polls and focus groups have found the public wants to prioritise public spending over cutting taxes.

While Labour’s promise on public investment is pretty pitiful, Starmer was at his best in the debate when talking about hope and aspiration. A belief that things can get better, that they can improve. 

The Labour leader’s best answer was actually when he was asked why politicians are so mediocre. He said: This is an opportunity to restore that hope. I don’t think we can do that by making, sort of, grand promises of things that can’t be delivered.”

Rather, Starmer said, it’s “the ordinary hope of getting on yourself, getting on for your family, getting on for your community, your country. It has to be rooted, if we’re going to restore hope in my view, in returning politics to service, the sense that you come into politics to serve”.

Even with millions of people watching, it’s unlikely that the TV debate will have changed the dial. But Sunak’s robotic repetition on tax shows a Tory Party that has run out of ideas.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday.