In the present Conservative leadership election, I thought I liked Liz Truss least for the role, although I wouldn’t classify myself as a particular fan of Richie Sunak and, since I’m not a Conservative party member, I don’t get any vote to cast in who takes this country further to the dogs. I thought I’d be fair though and see if I could find out something about her policies beyond what has been reported in the media. Perhaps her website would be a sensible place to start but it doesn’t even say that she’s standing to become the next Prime Minister, let alone give any detail of what she plans to do if she wins.

That puts me back onto the media, who mainly seem to focus on her promises to cut taxes. Maybe I’m missing something since I can’t find much detail to dig into, but how exactly does that help the nation and, in particular, the poorer people in society who don’t seem to have seen much of the ‘levelling up’ Conservatives have now been promising for years? Some tax cuts would benefit everyone, particularly VAT on essentials like energy. However, even there, your total saving is increased with your total spending. On other taxes, like income tax and national insurance, those on the lowest incomes already fall below the threshold where they pay them and so they won’t benefit (although they will certainly bear the cost of services like NHS dentistry continuing in crisis).

Cui bono? Who benefits? Those with large disposable incomes will do best from what seems to be dangled as a carrot. Maybe they will be able to afford that second car or the third overseas holiday of the year after all? I can’t say that I was likely to be persuaded to become a true blue but I can’t see much sign that Truss, in particular, is making any attempt to reach above the low bar set by Johnson in the quest for a fair and decent society.