Why have Sunak and Hunt suddenly decided they want tax cuts?

The government’s transition on taxes has taken place at lightning speed. We’ve gone from chancellor Jeremy Hunt hinting at tax cuts yesterday morning on the BBC to Rishi Sunak confirming that not only are tax cuts coming this Wednesday, but they are now a major priority for the government, as laid out in five new promises made today.

But it’s not just the policy that’s changing. It’s the rhetoric too. Hunt has gone from insisting that tax cuts are ‘virtually impossible’ in September – not something to consider right now, he said in October – to ushering them in this November and embracing a new tone about the economy. Speaking at the CBI’s annual conference this afternoon, the Chancellor dropped the gloomy narrative about what debt interest payments were doing to the public finances, and insisted he was feeling upbeat instead.

‘I feel a lot more positive about the UK economy than I did a year ago when I came in’, he told an audience of business leaders.