Rishi Sunak’s ‘cost of living’ plan: What he said – and what he really meant
Our chief political commentator tries to decipher the subtext of the chancellor’s words in the Commons
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Your support makes all the difference.What Rishi Sunak said: I know people are worried. I know they are struggling ... This government will never stop trying to help people.
What he really meant: Remember me? I am the guy who gave you lots of money during the lockdowns and saved your jobs. I am still here.
What he said: We will turn this moment of difficulty into a springboard for economic renewal and growth.
What he meant: Everything I worked for for all these years has gone horribly wrong, but this is my chance to show my character. I shall use adversity to prove that I shall pick myself up and turn Project Rishi around.
What he said: Make no mistake, the lowest unemployment for 50 years is good news, but... it does contribute to the UK's relatively high rate of inflation
What he meant: Stage one of my “comeback kid” story is being honest about things you wouldn’t expect me to be honest about. Inflation. It’s a bit of a worry, really.
What he said: We need responsible fiscal policy.
What he meant: At some point in the distant future. Right now, I have my career to save.
What he said: There is nothing noble in burdening future generations with ever more debt today because politicians of the day were too weak to make the tough decisions.
What he meant: That was the line I was trying to hold, but it didn’t work out, so here I am to demonstrate the truth of the sentiment.
What he said: As we support people more, we need to think about the fairest way to fund as much of that cost as possible.
What he meant: We don’t have to pay for all of it out of tax. We can borrow too. I scrapped the normal rules of prudence during the pandemic, and became popular; I tried to restore them afterwards, which people didn’t like; so let the floodgates open.
What he said: The oil and gas sector is making extraordinary profits, not as the result of recent changes to risk taking or innovation or efficiency, but as the result of surging global prices, driven in part by Russia’s war. For that reason, I am sympathetic to the argument to tax those profits fairly.
What he meant: That is why we asked Conservative MPs to vote against a windfall tax last week. Our only objection was that Labour wasn’t proposing a big enough tax.
What he said: As ever, there is a sensible middle ground. We should not be ideological about this, we should be pragmatic.
What he meant: I am the heir to Blair.
What he said: It is possible to both tax extraordinary profits fairly and incentivise investment.
What he meant: I argued the opposite only a few days ago. Mr Sunak would like to recall that email.
What he said: This is a significant set of interventions to support the most vulnerable in our country.
What he meant: We won Labour votes at the last election. Give them Labour policies.
What he said: Taken together, our direct cash payments will help one-third of all UK households.
What he meant: I put about half the population on the government pay roll in the pandemic, but now it is time to roll back the frontiers of the state. We Conservatives believe in a small state.
What he said: But there are many other families who do not require state support in normal times; they are also facing challenging times. Is it fair to leave them unsupported? The answer must surely be no.
What he meant: Conservatives so admire the self-reliance of the middle class that we believe that they should be rewarded for it by the state.
What he said: While it is not possible for the government to solve every problem, we can and will ease the burden.
What he meant: I will pretend that I can solve every problem. I will worry about how to pay for it later.
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What he said: Those repayments [of the £200 discount on energy bills] will be cancelled. So, for the avoidance of doubt, this support is now unambiguously a grant.
What he meant: I tried to call it a grant, but the shadow chancellor said it was a loan. She was right. She is now running government policy.
What he said: Our strategy is to combat and reduce inflation over time.
What he meant: Not yet.
What he said: The British people can trust this government because we have a plan for a stronger economy.
What he meant: I have just torn up the plan I announced two months ago because nobody liked it, but you can trust me that I have got it right now because I have just copied Rachel Reeves’s homework.
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