MANCHESTER, England, Oct 2 (Reuters) - British finance minister Jeremy Hunt poured cold water on growing calls for tax cuts within the governing Conservative Party on Monday, saying he could not commit to any "inflationary" reduction before the next election.
But his message was overshadowed by calls from senior Conservative lawmakers, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's predecessor, for tax cuts to try to close the gap in opinion polls with the opposition Labour Party before an election expected next year.
He said any tax cuts this year would be inflationary, making it more difficult to achieve Sunak's pledge made in January to halve inflation by the end of the year.
Yes, but it means difficult decisions and we're prepared to take those difficult decisions," Hunt told Sky News, adding that voters understood "how difficult these decisions are".
"So ahead of this year's Autumn Statement, we must make the Conservative Party the party of business once again, by getting Corporation Tax back down to 19%.
Persons:
Jeremy Hunt, Hunt, Rishi Sunak's, Sunak, we're, Liz Truss, Alistair Smout, Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill, Kylie MacLellan, Sachin Ravikumar, Sarah Young, Emelia Sithole, Catherine Evans
Organizations:
Conservative Party, Conservative, Labour Party, Times, Sky News, Labour, Corporation, Tax, Thomson
Locations:
MANCHESTER, England, British, Manchester