There are 22, 38 and 45 caliber revolvers. There are those made in Belgium, Italy, Russia, North America and many other countries. Some are more popular among police officers, others among criminals or, due to their smaller dimensions, preferred by women. But whether it is the Beretta, the Apache, the Magnum, any model of Colt, Remington or Smith
Sunak’s fifth bullet was the economic program he presented this week, with a reduction in corporate tax (from 12 to 10%) and incentives for companies to invest in machinery and technology. The right-wing press, which does not know what to do to prevent a conservative defeat in next year’s elections, has applauded and proclaimed “the greatest reduction in the tax burden in half a century.”
Independent analysts have, however, been in charge of bursting that bubble. It is not a big deal, far from it, because British taxpayers – and not all – are only going to recover a quarter of the taxes that the Government has raised since the pandemic, an average of five thousand euros per year per family, which is An atrocity. Between that, inflation, the price of energy and the virtual freezing of salaries in real terms since 2008, it is not surprising that the cost of living has skyrocketed. The two-party majority electoral system does not give options here to a Milei, a Wilders or a Meloni, but if they could many would opt for a radical populist option (in some way Johnson and Truss already were, within the system, and also Brexit, with dire results).
Sunak’s shot to try to save his skin in the elections has not been aired. He may not hit the target but, like a good sniper, the prime minister has calculated the intensity and direction of the wind and atmospheric humidity. Safe have been the business world, the self-employed and the most faithful bloc of Tory voters, the retirees, whose pensions have been raised according to inflation. And in the spotlight, the professional middle classes, the big losers of all tax systems, and the long-term unemployed, from whom the Government will withdraw subsidies if they do not look for work or accept those offered to them (there are cities in the northern England, such as Blackpool, where more of the working population is outside the labor market).
Sunak, with his fifth bullet, has not wanted to make a revolution so much as a restoration of conservative values, the search for growth with the traditional Keynesian recipe of reducing taxes (both on capital and work) and public spending, combined with a reform of the welfare state, a watered-down version of the formula that Liz Truss tried, the markets rejected and it cost her her job in just a month and a half.
This time Sunak assures that his accounts are working out because, thanks to inflation, the Treasury has collected more in taxes than he expected and he can afford to hand out candy worth 25 billion euros to cajole at least some voters and alleviate the coup in the upcoming elections. But this is a mirage and a trap for Labour. If he accepts the new parameters, he will come to power tied hand and foot, with infrastructure that is falling apart, public healthcare destroyed, schools overcrowded and social services crying out for investment. And if he rejects them, he will be accused of being a spendthrift with people’s money.
Twenty points behind in the polls, Sunak has opted for an accounting trick, a bribe to voters, a nod to those populist-leaning voters who detest intellectuals who eat tofu, vegan burgers and tuna tataki. The penultimate bullet in the chamber of his revolver is aimed at that imaginary line where class and cultural wars intersect.
Of all his promises, so far Sunak has only been able to fulfill that of halving inflation, because public debt as a percentage of GDP continues to skyrocket, the British on the waiting list for operations number eight million and net immigration (a vital issue for many) continues to increase unabated. The latest official figures place 672,000 foreigners who settled in the United Kingdom from June 22 to June 23, an increase of 65,000 people compared to the previous year. Of them, only about 50,000 are illegal and asylum seekers, the rest have arrived with suitcases and visas in order, to work in hospitals and care for the elderly, or in agriculture, or for students at private universities (who can come with family).
Five bullets. Sunak only has the sixth left, perhaps another tax cut (inheritance and income) in the spring.
