Jeremy Hunt tells the Tory party some uncomfortable truths

Jeremy Hunt is one of the few Tories willing to take the fight to Labour while the Conservative leadership contest drones on. The shadow chancellor gave an on-stage interview at party conference in Birmingham this morning where he continued to attack Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ‘£22 billion black hole’ narrative. Hunt suggested that not even Labour MPs and members believed that claim, which was why they were having such a big row over the winter fuel payment.

Hunt also warned that Labour was in danger of making decisions based on its own ‘propaganda’, telling Daniel Finkelstein:

‘My worry is that Labour believes its own propaganda and starts taking a whole series of decisions particularly on things like capital gains tax which have a massive impact on deterring the investment in the economy that we really need.’

He argued that public sector pay rises would be reducing productivity because nothing was asked for in return: ‘That is not taking a difficult decision, that is ducking a difficult decision on the issue – productivity – that economists say is the most important issue,’ he said.