Former UK PM Sunak turns columnist, offers budget advice against tax rises

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Former prime minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday began a new role as a newspaper columnist with some advice for the government ahead of the UK budget next month, cautioning Chancellor Rachel Reeves against resorting to tax rises to bolster the nation's finances.

Writing in The Sunday Times', the 45-year-old former chancellor in the Conservative Party-led government draws upon his own experiences in the Treasury at No. 11 Downing Street in London to acknowledge the tough choices faced by a finance minister.

However, the Opposition MP believes the answer for the Labour government lies in spending cuts rather than tax hikes as the latter would have a depressionary effect on economic growth.

Raising taxes would be a disaster for the UK and particularly if increases are concentrated on a narrow base as Reeves tries to remain technically compliant with manifesto commitments. Such tax rises would be particularly distortionary and damaging to growth, writes Sunak.

The choice then is simple: spending cuts or tax rises. If the chancellor opts for the latter, it will crush confidence still further and depress growth, making next year's budget even more painful than this one will be, he said.

The next Spending Review, as the budget is known in the UK, is exactly a month away on November 26, with Reeves under increasing pressure as the interest on Britain's long-term borrowing rises amid market worries about the sustainability of the country's finances.

But the UK issues much less long-term debt than it used to. Respected City (of London) figures calculate that this shift means funding has actually been cheaper this fiscal year than in the previous two, Sunak claims.

A bigger buffer could create a virtuous circle: bond markets would be reassured by the additional headroom and so feel more confident in the UK's finances, reducing government borrowing costs. It's clearly the right thing to do, and much better than the alternative of months of uncertainty every year, he writes.

The newspaper states that the fees accrued from Sunak's column will be donated to the Richmond Project, the education charity he founded with wife Akshata Murty to tackle numeracy issues among children in the UK.

The charity has been named as a beneficiary of all his additional paid appointments, including most recently as an adviser to US tech firms Microsoft and Anthropic.

People feel confident saying they aren't good at maths, but we want to change that. Whatever you do, maths helps, whether it's fantasy football, planning for holidays or buying a car, Sunak told The Times' in an interview this weekend.

As a backbench MP for Richmond and Northallerton, he admits relishing the extra time he has to be able to spend with his wife and two children, Krishna and Anoushka.

I am happy because as a family it's been lovely reconnecting and having the luxury of spending time [together], the four of us, that we haven't had for ages. I was an absentee dad and husband for five years because of my jobs, he said.

Having made history as Britain's first Indian heritage prime minister, Sunak was asked if he would consider returning to frontline politics in the future.

I don't think I'm over yet and nor is the Conservative Party, he replied.