POLL: Do you think Rishi Sunak would be a good Brexit Prime Minister after Boris Johnson?

Rishi Sunak ‘waiting in the wings’ says Dominique Samuels

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According to a recent Ipsos MORI survey undertaken for the Evening Standard, 33 percent of the public now believe Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has what it takes to be a good Prime Minister. The news comes as Boris Johnson faces renewed threats to his premiership in the wake of the Sue Gray report, which noted there were “failures of leadership and judgement” that allowed numerous parties to take place in Number 10 and other Government buildings during the UK’s various lockdowns.

Mr Johnson’s approval ratings in opinion polls have slumped to record lows in recent weeks as he faces calls to resign from within his own party and beyond.

In other polling, as reported here by Express.co.uk, the public has also begun to lose faith in the Prime Minister’s ability to make a success out of Brexit.

Mr Sunak has long been dubbed a ‘Prime Minister in waiting’, owing to his fierce policy and personable approach in public.

He is a long-standing Brexiteer, too. In 2016 he penned a blog post explaining why he was voting with the Leave campaign, writing that Brexit was a “once in a generation opportunity for our country to take back control of its destiny”.

His voting record shows a consistent alignment with pro-Brexit politics, even voting to leave the EU without a deal in March 2019.

However, the Chancellor will come under increased scrutiny this week as the cost of living crisis begins to take hold, with a perfect storm of rising energy bills, interest rates and tax increases all imminent.

On Thursday, Ofgem will announce a rise in the energy price cap, with industry experts fearing a rise of almost £2,000 per year could be added to the average household bills.

Mr Sunak is reportedly set to unveil plans for state-backed loans that will allow energy firms to reduce the bills of every household in the UK, to ease the financial impact.

According to reports in the Telegraph, the Treasury is also preparing a council tax rebate to help society’s lowest earners.

The proposal would mean council tax is temporarily cut in the lowest property bands.

However, all the plans in place are unlikely to be enough to cover the full increase in household bills expected this year, with people paying more for food, energy, National Insurance, fuel and even mobile charges.

Modelling has shown that lower-income households will bear the brunt of the crisis, casting doubt on the success of the Conservatives’ new ‘Levelling Up’ plans, unveiled this week.

Also this week, the Bank of England is expected to announce an increase in interest rates potentially from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent ‒ further squeezing families with mortgages.

This will be the second interest rate rise in three months.

Some 2.2 million homeowners, or one in four mortgage borrowers, on variable rate deals will be impacted by the decision, while banks are also beginning to raise costs of fixed-rate deals.

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MPs have called on Mr Sunak to cut ‘green levies’ — the 12 percent of energy bills that goes toward funding green energy programmes — to take the pressure off households.

Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister, said: “Once again they are piling intervention on intervention, when we should be a free market, conservative Government.

“The levies should be suspended and moved on to general taxation.

“I’m always going to be attracted to doing things which reduce the tax burden on consumers, rather than bailing out people on the supply side at the taxpayers’ expense.”

The upcoming hike in National Insurance taxes, confirmed in a joint article in the Sunday Times by Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson over the weekend, has also led to scrutiny.

Sir John Redwood, the former Welsh Secretary, said: “Taxing us more through National Insurance to lend more money to power companies is not the way to ease the cost of living squeeze.

“Tax cuts and lasting cuts to fuel costs by producing more is what we need.”

Another former minister said: “After the bounce-back debacle, you would have thought the Government would have learnt that lending out people’s money with no guarantee it will be paid back is a bad idea.

“The Conservative Party surely would be better off cutting taxes like green levies and VAT.”

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