Hunt’s tax cut charade will not be enough to lead his party to an election victory

The Autumn statement has made some big promises about reducing national insurance, writes Andrew Grice. But voters are unlikely to experience enough of a ‘feel good factor’ for it to make a dent at next year’s general election

Sunak and Hunt have reached for the Thatcher playbook and tax cuts (EPA)

After thrashing around for a strategy, Rishi Sunak finally has a credible narrative thanks to the cut in national insurance contributions (NICs) announced by Jeremy Hunt in his autumn statement.

For months, the chancellor told us he could not reduce taxes, but suddenly changed gears at the weekend. He allowed expectations of a 1 per cent cut in employees’ NICs to run, securing days of favourable headlines about tax cuts, but still held back a rabbit for today: the cut will be 2 per cent and will take effect in January rather than next April as expected. Anyone would think it will be an election year.

Now the rate of inflation has halved, Sunak can claim with a straight face that his plan is working. It was noticeable that Hunt repeatedly defended the Tories’ record since 2010, a far cry from Sunak’s criticism of a failed 30-year status quo only last month. Hunt’s approach is more realistic: voters will hardly forget the Tories have been in power for 13 years.