The Tories’ key initiatives are in trouble because the chancellor won’t fund them. Why not? Because he wants the PM’s job
There’s probably never a good time for the chancellor of the exchequer to visit California, but doing so when whole business sectors are on the verge of collapse was a particularly bad look. Yesterday Rishi Sunak announced a bailout package worth around £1bn for businesses losing trade because of Omicron, but Labour has understandably accused the chancellor of being missing in action at the crucial moments. The charge sheet, however, is actually much more serious than that. The chancellor might have been invisible over recent weeks, but his fingerprints are all over the government’s current policy problems.
Why has the government been so reluctant to issue official guidance that would limit public socialising, as Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has recommended? Because to do so would effectively mean that the government was forcing the closure of the hospitality sector; and in turn that would require the Treasury to reinstitute the furlough scheme, the most economically sensible response to the current crisis but a short-term hit to the public finances that Sunak is desperate to avoid.
