DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Jeremy Hunt vandalises his party's low-tax values

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Jeremy Hunt vandalises his party’s low-tax values

Could it be that Jeremy Hunt has forgotten he’s supposed to be a Tory?

We ask this because the very foundations of Conservatism are a low-tax state, rewarding hard work, initiative and thrift.

By contrast, the Chancellor has embraced big state Treasury orthodoxy, which is hostile to his party’s fundamental values.

He has left embattled families and businesses groaning under the heaviest tax load since the war. True, he wants to repair the nation’s finances after the astronomical borrowing binge during the pandemic.

Could it be that Jeremy Hunt has forgotten he’s supposed to be a Tory? We ask this because the very foundations of Conservatism are a low-tax state, rewarding hard work, initiative and thrift

But by quietly ditching a Treasury review of the tax system, he has raised fears he is not serious about reducing Britain’s ruinously high burden any time soon.

This would be sticking two fingers up at voters who will now fear the State snatching even more of their dwindling income.

The Mail believes this is a grave error. The study, ordered by his chastened predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, aimed to make taxation simpler, more dynamic and fairer.

This was intended to ease families’ financial pain and make the UK considerably more competitive, which in turn would have led to higher growth, job creation and prosperity for all.

That, Mr Hunt, is the Tory way.

A shameful injustice

How warped the police’s priorities have become. Once upon a time, officers investigated crime, protected private property and brought offenders to justice.

But dial 999 if your house has been broken into and ransacked – a terrifying experience – and you’ll be lucky to get a shrug of the shoulders from your local constabulary.

As a former police watchdog says, it’s simply unacceptable that more than one million burglary and theft cases were deemed unworthy of investigation because a suspect couldn’t be identified.

How warped the police’s priorities have become. Once upon a time, officers investigated crime, protected private property and brought offenders to justice

If the police think this is an acceptable way to treat victims of crime, it’s tempting to conclude they have been inhaling too deeply on callouts to cannabis farms (if they still bother to investigate those).

Yet if someone says something unpleasant on Twitter, they’ll surely make inquiries.

These failings, plus woke chief constables’ obsession with wasting resources on diversity managers instead of bobbies, tell offenders they can act with impunity. Is it any wonder crime is rising in Wild West Britain?

Predators on parade

On becoming the head of Britain’s armed forces last year, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin complained too few women were serving.

Today, one might reasonably ask: Why would any female want to enlist? Hot on the heels of horrific sex abuse cases in the Royal Navy and the Red Arrows, the Army has been dragged into the scandal.

Dozens of servicewomen have reported being assaulted at Sandhurst. This comes after an inquiry into cadet Olivia Perks’ suicide exposed a culture of inappropriate conduct between instructors and recruits.

That the renowned officer training academy is apparently a fertile hunting ground for predators is disgraceful. By potentially deterring future military talent, it also risks weakening the nation as a fighting force.

Thousands of troops perform their duties with exceptional skill, respect and courage. The trouble is, they are being let down because a toxic culture festers in too many corners of the military. It must be mercilessly exposed – and eradicated.

HSBC has been named and shamed as the worst offender for closing UK branches – almost 750 in just eight years. This is part of the firm’s relentless march towards digital services. But for millions who deal in cash, especially the elderly and small businesses, it causes real difficulty. Not long ago, HSBC boasted it was ‘the world’s local bank’. How laughable that seems. It’s now not even the local bank in countless towns and villages.

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