Rishi Sunak has said he wants to cut taxes for working people further this year, possibly cutting welfare payments to fund it.
The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.
His comments set up the possibility of an income tax cut in March, what is likely to be the last major tax decision by the chancellor before the general election.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced at his autumn statement in November that hundreds of thousands of people would have to look for work they could do from home or face having their benefits cut by nearly £5,000 a year.
But on Sunday the prime minister defended the cuts, saying they were part of a wider plan to significantly reduce the number of people claiming those benefits.
On Friday the former Tory minister Chris Skidmore said he would quit as an MP in protest at the government’s plans to issue more oil and gas licences in the North Sea, triggering a byelection in his Kingswood seat.
A third could take place in Blackpool South, where the Conservative MP Scott Benton is fighting a lengthy suspension from parliament after being found to have breached lobbying rules.
As well as significant tax cuts, many in his party want to toughen up his bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda before it comes back to the Commons for another vote.
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