LORD Pickles has admitted that the tax burden will remain high ”for a long time” and warned that the Prime Minister needs to give voters hope for the future if the Conservatives are to win the next election.
He told GB News: “Any Conservative wants to see a lower level of taxation, of course, and people go back to the glory days of Lady Thatcher.
“But what they forget about Lady Thatcher is, not only that she was a tax cutter, she also believed in sound money and given the level of inflation, given the cost of the pandemic, particularly the furlough scheme…the fact that there are lots of people like me about, old people, are growing, it’s going to mean that that taxation burden is going to remain high for a long time.”
In a discussion with Michael Portillo, he said that a Conservative victory at the next election was not out of the question.
He said: “Of course there’s everything to play for. The party needs to get its act together.
“What we need to offer is some hope, these various sorts of consumer offerings, that we will stop the 20 miles an hour [zones], we’ll do something about dangerous dogs, will do this, that and the other.
“What we need actually to do is to give people some hope. And my worry is that the party leadership have misread the Uxbridge by-election results.”
He added: “I think the Uxbridge by-election was a classic protest vote and the thing was that Sadiq Khan was more annoying than the Conservative Party, and that’s what happened. It wasn’t particularly our desire and our love of the motor car.
“What I want to really see is a collection of policies that says you’re going to be better off, your kids are going to be better off, there’s going to be a degree of progress…
“If the Prime Minister could offer us some hope, some optimism, some understanding that those communities are going to be better off, not that we’re going to offer a special fund for this, a special fund for that. They need to understand that the Conservative Party, the Conservative government is on their side.”
