The Conservative (Tory) Party appears to have surrendered the one true vote-winning card they have always held up their sleeve, the ability to sell British voters the idea they will cut their taxes, with polling clearly showing the Tories are now clearly thought of as the high tax party.
Voters, asked by a pollster which political party out of the United Kingdom’s two establishment legacy parties they more associated with high taxation, opted in a considerable plurality for the Conservative Party, it is claimed.
A poll taken by Redfield & Wilton Strategies for the Conservative Party adjacent Daily Telegraph newspaper found that, of those asked, 42 per cent said they associated the Tories with high taxes, while only 17 per cent associated them with Labour.
Underlining the point, perhaps, the brief report in the Telegraph on the finding notes the research took place the day before this week’s punishing ‘Conservative’ budget, in which the party raised taxes yet again, taking them to a level not seen since the Second World War.
The result is shocking exactly because being the party of low taxes — or at least being perceived as being a party of low taxes — is one of the major selling points of the Conservative Party, which in generations of elections have been able to say on the doorstep to voters that no matter what else has gone wrong, at least their taxes aren’t going to be put up.
That illusion appears to have been well and truly shattered, assuming the Redfield & Wilton Strategies research is reliable. Indeed, the finding this week shows a continued drift of trust away from the Conservative Party over the course of this year since their last published findings on the subject: a May 2022 poll by the group asked the concomitant question which party would respondents most associate with low taxes.
Some 36 per cent said Labour was the party of lower tax, while only 19 per cent gave it to the Tories.
A perhaps more clearsighted minority of 18 per cent said they believed neither Labour nor the Conservatives stood for lower taxes.
Little wonder that British voters no longer believe the Conservatives will cut their taxes. Even when the Tories aren’t actually putting taxes up — and that isn’t often — inflation and static banding combine to produce ‘fiscal drag‘, a stealth tax that takes more money out of employees’ pockets without the inconvenience of bad headlines from changing the tax code. Everyone just gets poorer every year while the government takes a larger slice.
Taxes in the United Kingdom are now at historic levels and all indications point to the pain getting worse in the coming years.
As reported Friday, a new think tank report claims real wages will be £15,000 lower a year in the coming years, with a particular squeeze put on the middle class, who at present do not appear to have a serious political party in Westminster to represent their interests.
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