Tax and Spend Is Britain’s Way to Battle Inequality
Rishi Sunak’s gamble is that the spending will be temporary and all in the service of leveling up.
Spend it.
Source: Bloomberg
Boris Johnson didn’t just resurrect the idea of “leveling up” as a campaign slogan. (The idea of redressing imbalances in the economy long predates him.) He expanded it, made it a central theme to the Queen’s Speech, delivered his own speech on the matter and even appointed a leveling-up minister.
Leveling up has been called “the defining mission” of his government. Only it’s a slippery concept. Some Tories suspect the term is a euphemism for taxing wealthier parts of the country to buy votes in the less-affluent north, which delivered Johnson’s 2019 majority. Others see it as a vague label that can be slapped on any giveaway. Can the prime minister level up the country while funding the National Health Service, cutting taxes and reducing borrowing? Fiscal conservatives suspect not.