Tory chair tells struggling Britons to get a better job

Britons struggling with soaring bills should try getting a better-paid job or cut back on their spending, Conservative Party chair Jake Berry has said.

- ADAM FORREST

The senior Tory figure was grilled on the Truss government’s economic strategy, amid growing concern about the impact of borrowing-fuelled tax cuts benefiting the rich the most.

“People know when they get their bills, they can either cut their consumption or get higher salaries or higher wages, and go out there and get that new job,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge yesterday. Mr Berry added: “That’s the approach the government is taking in trying to create growth.”

Among those condemning the remarks, Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor, tweeted: “Naked cruelty from Conservative chair Jake Berry today.”

The Tory chair claimed Ms Truss has an “absolute mandate” from the 2019 election to carry out her radical new economic policy. “[The 2019 manifesto] set out that we wouldn’t increase taxes and in fact we have complied with that by reversing the national insurance rise. It set out that we would drive to create economic growth and that’s exactly what the prime minister’s doing,” he said.