[Politics] Jeremy Hunt warns of ‘tough decisions’ ahead as he begins new role

[FazzNoth]

New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned there will be “difficult decisions” ahead on tax and spending on Saturday.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hunt said he will “have to make some very difficult decisions ahead” in order to balance the books.

He said: “Spending will not go up as much as people want and there’ll be more efficiencies to find and we won’t have the speed of tax cuts we’re hoping for, and some taxes will have to go up. That’s the reality of the very challenging situation we face.”

Although ruling out austerity-like cuts, Mr Hunt said the Government will need to made “very difficult decisions” following the fallout from the mini-Budget.

Allies of the Prime Minister were attempting to shore up her position on Friday evening, with Deputy Prime Minister, Thérèse Coffey, holding a Zoom call with Tory MPs. The call was reportedly poorly attended.

Lord Hague, who led the Tory Party in opposition from 1997 to 2001, told Times Radio her time as PM “hangs by a thread” saying “It’s been a catastrophic episode.”

“These were her policies too. And plenty of warning was given by many of us about what would happen if we had unfunded tax cuts and whether it would be financially and politically sustainable,” he said.

 

Lauren McEvatt, a former Conservative special adviser under David Cameron, said the “smartest decision” Liz Truss made was appointing Jeremy Hunt.

Ms McEvatt said: “The smartest decision that Liz Truss has made in her entire premiership was appointing Jeremy Hunt yesterday. Conversely, potentially the dumbest thing he has ever done was taking the job.”

She said Mr Hunt is an “adult” who understands what the job requires.

“What he said on the news this morning is very much a wholesale reversal of everything Liz Truss has tried to achieve over the course of the last several weeks,” Ms McEvatt added.

“Mentioning that there are going to have spending cuts, mentioning that there might have to be tax rises.

“This is exactly what the market needed to hear in order to work out how on Earth the government was going to fill the £60m gap that was left… after the mini-budget.”

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