According to Opinium Research for Lansons, 42% of the famed ‘Red Wall’ new Tory voters state the priority measure they would like to see for this afternoon is a rise in their take-home pay being introduced in the Budget – an income tax cut in other words. That is because 41% of the new Tory voters think taxes are too high and errr, 40% of the same new Tory voters think government spending is too low. Workington, we have a problem….

According to YouGov the most popular candidate for tax cuts was council tax (36%) followed by income tax (29%), fuel duty (22%) and then VAT (19%). During the credit crisis, Chancellor Darling cut VAT as the quickest way to boost consumer spending. If the coronavirus is an economic hit on the scale of the credit crisis, a temporary halving of VAT to 10% would incentivise spending, immediately and effectively….