Sunak pins hopes on raft of Tory tax cuts to cling on to power

RISHI SUNAK took the axe to national insurance as he sought lift-off today for the Tory party's election campaign.

- Nicholas Cecil and Jitendra Joshi

The Prime Minister vowed to lop a further 2p off the main rate by 2027. In a surprise announcement, he also promised to completely abolish the main rate of self-employed national insurance to reward "risk takers" who set up their own businesses.

The tax-cutting package, which also includes changes to child benefit, pensioners' triple lock plus, and moves to help home buyers get onto the property ladder, was expected to total £17.2 billion by 2029/30.

Mr Sunak was set to say: "We are now cutting taxes for workers, parents and pensioners."

Unveiling his manifesto at the Silverstone race circuit, near Northampton, Mr Sunak sought to put clear blue water between his party and Labour after his campaign was knocked off track by his D-Day 80th anniversary blunder of not staying in France for the international leaders' ceremony.

Tax cuts

The centrepiece was tax cuts as he trumpeted the Conservatives as the party of Margaret Thatcher and her tax-cutting chancellor Nigel Lawson.

The premier stressed the main rate of national insurance had already been lowered from 12 per cent to eight, with the two 2p reductions in the autumn statement and Budget. Mr Sunak was set to say: "We will go further in the coming years, meaning that by 2027 we will have halved national insurance to six per cent: saving an average worker on £35,000 more than £1,300."

He hailed this as "progress" towards the "long-term ambition to abolish the double tax on work when it is economically responsible" to do so. Mr Sunak then turned to the self-employed.