RISHI Sunak has portrayed this election as a battle over tax.
The PM is spot on when he says that the key to a healthy, low-tax economy is slashing bills through welfare reform.
As both parties trade fresh blows before the launch of their manifestos, he warns that benefits are set to spiral by £20billion by the end of this decade.
It would be a dereliction of duty for any government to sit back and allow such a crippling debt to mount.
Mr Sunak claims that his shake-up of benefits, a crackdown on fraud and expanding mental health care would save £12billion a year from the welfare bill by 2029.
So what are Labour’s plans?
Surely the party which created the welfare state should be uniquely placed to reform it?
But while Rachel Reeves is keen to distance Labour from its past under Jeremy Corbyn, there is no sign of either her or Sir Keir Starmer getting to grips with this problem.
The Shadow Chancellor wants voters to believe her party has been completely cured of its deep-seated impulse to throw taxpayers’ money at everything.
She points out that the Tories have raised taxes 26 times, and insists Labour won’t hike income tax, National Insurance or VAT if it wins power.
All very prudent.
But without a credible plan to control mushrooming welfare costs any future Labour government could not claim to be in full control of the nation’s finances.
And that would mean higher taxes for everyone.
HAND-WRINGING liberals who support mass migration often claim it has boosted the UK economy and made us all richer.
But now a left-leaning think-tank has shockingly exploded this myth.
Britain’s population has ballooned by six million since 2010.
The Resolution Foundation says this vast influx has increased the size of the economy.
But it found that efforts to attract the best brains and skills from around the world has failed to make the country any better off per person.
It leads to only one conclusion.
Setting serious and tough targets to limit migrant numbers must be a top priority for whoever forms the next government.
