THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN

Tories' £17bn unfunded tax cut plan shows failure to learn from economic disaster under Truss | Manifesto so poor, rival MP says Government 'should have spared themselves making it'

- ANDREW QUINN

RISHI Sunak has been dubbed the next Liz Truss after he promised £17billion of unfunded tax cuts as the Tories launched their General Election manifesto.

The Prime Minister said he would cut national insurance by another 2p, which would cost billions of pounds.

Labour said the manifesto showed the Conservatives' "desperation" and that it is "a recipe for five more years of Tory chaos".

The SNP said the Tories "should have spared themselves the bother" of coming up with a manifesto because they will be booted out of office in a matter of weeks.

The launch took place at the Silverstone race track in the south of England.

The Conservatives reduced employees' national insurance from 10 per cent to eight per cent at the March budget.

This followed a similar cut in autumn 2023, at an annual cost of almost £10billion by 2028-29.

The manifesto commits to a third 2p reduction as part of a drive to eliminate national insurance.

The Tories also promised to abolish the main rate of self-employed national insurance entirely by the end of the Parliament.

They also want to cut employee national insurance to six percent by April 2027 at an estimated cost of £ 10.3 billion in 2029-30. In total, the Tories' package of tax cuts would amount to a £17.2billion annual cost to the UK Government by 2029-30.