DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Common sense will reap political rewards
In some quarters, Rishi Sunak has acquired the unfortunate reputation of being a bloodless technocrat who prefers poring over complex spreadsheets to duffing up political foes.
So how refreshing that he came out all guns blazing yesterday to defend hitting the brakes in the race to net zero.
With ludicrous hyperbole, eco fanatics accused him of failing the planet. But in a combative interview on the Radio 4 Today programme yesterday, Mr Sunak bit back.
The virtue-signalling green elite’s obsession with hitting unrealistic climate targets at needless speed, he said, would place ordinary people under unimaginable financial pressure and other hardships.
To further impoverish millions by forcing them to buy extortionately expensive electric cars and heat pumps would be intolerable – especially when Britain is responsible for a tiny fraction of global CO2 emissions. So Mr Sunak should be applauded for putting families’ living standards above environmental dogma.
How refreshing that Rishi Sunak came out all guns blazing yesterday to defend hitting the brakes in the race to net zero
The PM must take this lesson to heart. With a laser-like focus on prioritising voters ahead of vested interests, he could snatch an unlikely victory at the general election.
The yawning disconnect between the public’s common-sense views and Labour’s faddish obsessions is ripe for exploiting.
There is increasing alarm at the malign influence of trans activists in schools. Surely it can’t be difficult for the Government to publish long-awaited guidance advising headteachers to alert parents if their child announces they want to change sex?
Mr Sunak must also fully embrace the opportunities presented by Brexit. Contrary to the witterings of Remainers, our departure from the EU is already bearing fruit, and there is the tantalising prospect of a big trade deal with India.
With Sir Keir Starmer letting the cat out of the bag that he is duplicitously plotting to cancel Brexit – admitting on camera that Labour ‘don’t want to diverge’ from EU rules – the PM should capitalise on his opponent’s utter disdain for democracy.
And while Labour remains the party of tax and spend, Mr Sunak could prove he is looking out for hard-pressed families and businesses by cutting taxes. In adopting such popular policies, he can show voters that the Tories are truly on their side.
Take the axe to taxes
Was this the week the economy finally turned the corner?
A day after inflation defied doomsayers by falling to 6.7 per cent, the Bank of England has frozen interest rates for the first time in nearly two years. Mortgage holders and firms that rely on borrowed money will breathe a sigh of relief.
The Mail has not always been Governor Andrew Bailey’s biggest cheerleader. But for exercising his casting vote to peg the rate at 5.25 per cent we applaud him.
The danger of doing otherwise, as Alex Brummer, this paper’s City editor, has warned repeatedly, was that it would tip Britain’s fragile economy into recession.
The Mail has not always been Governor Andrew Bailey’s biggest cheerleader. But for exercising his casting vote to peg the rate at 5.25 per cent we applaud him
And the good news doesn’t end there. Treasury borrowing was £11.4billion less than forecast in the first five months of the year and consumer confidence is rising.
To keep the economy heading in the right direction, the Chancellor must now turn his attention to growth. Axing our exorbitant taxes would be the perfect place to start.
One of the principles of a free society is that justice should be transparent. But if the Law Commission holds sway, the public would know nothing about court cases involving rapists and other predators.
In a sinister assault on openness, it asks whether trials for sex offenders should be held in secret to encourage victims to give evidence, but the real winner would be the culprits, whose crimes would go unreported. This insane idea must be stopped. Secret justice is no justice.
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