Stewart Swipes at Tory Rivals Johnson, Raab Over U.K. Tax Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- Rory Stewart took a veiled swipe at rivals to be the next U.K. prime minister including Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, as he outlined plans to boost spending on education and the police if elected Tory leader.

The international development secretary -- an outsider in the race to succeed Theresa May -- said he won’t make spending promises the U.K. can’t afford. Candidates who do so would put the country’s reputation for economic stability and competence at risk, Stewart said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday.

“Candidates cannot on the one hand attack Jeremy Corbyn for fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time make unfunded promises,” Stewart said, referring to the opposition Labour Party leader. Some rivals’ plans are incompatible with the economic fallout from leaving the European Union without an agreement on Oct. 31, which they are also advocating, he said.

“Candidates that are advocating a no-deal Brexit as well as tax cuts will -- in one afternoon in October -- lose us a reputation that we have spent 300 years building,” he said.

Though Stewart didn’t refer to his opponents by name, Johnson -- the current favorite -- and Raab have both made clear promises to cut taxes and said they’re prepared to leave the EU without a deal. Esther McVey has advocated a no-deal Brexit as her central policy, while Andrea Leadsom is pushing for what she calls a “managed” exit with a series of side deals to minimize the impact -- an idea the EU has rejected.

Leadership Race

Home Secretary Sajid Javid, another contender, has also refused to take a no-deal Brexit off the table. Though the Tory leadership contest officially starts on Friday, when May steps down as party leader, candidates have been quick to set out their positions.

Stewart’s offbeat campaign has seen him courting voters across the country and posting his chats on Twitter, including one conversing in Dari with an immigrant from Afghanistan. He’s also admitted to taking a puff on an opium pipe during his trek across Asia, which he turned into a best-selling book.

His six economic pledges are:

• Keep U.K. reputation for economic stability by ruling out a no-deal Brexit; no unfunded spending plans and no unaffordable tax cuts
• More resources for services, especially schools and the police
• Infrastructure investment to boost regions, including spending on northern rail services
• Boost skills training, including midlife retraining to help those who face losing jobs from the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence
• Boost spending on research and development; make it easier to start new businesses by simplifying tax code and cutting red tape
• Give Britons more of a stake in the economy by boosting share ownership -- starting with sell-off of the government’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland

His team also released the results of private polling by Populus they said showed Stewart is considered the most truthful, competent, realistic and trusted of the candidates. The survey of 2,000 people on May 28-29 showed Stewart tied with Home Secretary Sajid Javid as the best prime minister, they said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas Penny

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