Rishi Sunak outlines why taxes cannot be cut: ‘You’re not idiots, you know what happened’

Rishi Sunak says the government cannot afford any immediate tax cuts, adding people are “not idiots” and understand what is not possible.

The prime minister insisted he does want to reduce taxation but argued the Covid pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine mean he is unable to do so.

“You’re not idiots, you know what’s happened,” he told an audience in Lancashire on Thursday.

“We had a massive pandemic for two years - we had to shut the country down and do a bunch of extraordinary things - that didn’t come cheap.”

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