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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during his visit to Amersham and Chiltern RFC, while on the General Election campaign trail, May 27, 2024
RISHI SUNAK tried to relaunch his floundering election campaign by offering tax breaks to pensioners, a core Tory voting bloc in past polls.
He pledged to raise the income tax allowance for pensioners, giving them a tax cut worth around £95 next year rising to £275 by the end of the decade.
His move — which would cost £2.4 billion — comes after a disastrous first week of the Tory campaign, including a missing umbrella at the launch, a visit to a centre named after a sunk ship, the defection of an MP to the Reform party and a widely ridiculed and unprepared teenage conscription plan.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES
