Rishi Sunak rejected Conservative calls for a manifesto promise to quit the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as he felt it would hand votes to Nigel Farage and would split his party during the election campaign, insiders have told i.
The Prime Minister also rebuffed suggestions he should pledge to cut inheritance tax – as a potential game-changer to turn around terrible opinion poll ratings – because he feared it would be viewed by voters as unfair.
He plumped for £17bn-worth of tax cuts – including slashing national insurance for employees by 2p, and working to scrap it for the self-employed – as he unveiled his plan for government on Tuesday.
But it came amid reports of disquiet among right-wing Tory MPs that Sunak was resisting the boldest measures.
A source close to the right-wing New Conservatives group said candidates in the faction had been canvassed for their views, including a commitment for a referendum on ECHR, but almost all their ideas had been rejected.
The Prime Minister simply reiterated the Tories’ existing policy on the Strasbourg court, promising in the manifesto to choose “security” of the UK’s borders over “the jurisdiction of a foreign court”, including the ECHR.
A senior Tory source said this was because membership of the court is a “complicated” issue that would have taken over the election campaign.
Adopting a tougher approach would also have risked opening up splits in the Tory party that could have resulted in MPs giving different answers in different interviews, the source added.
A second source, meanwhile, said there was a feeling that the Tories would have little to gain in an arms race with Reform on the ECHR, which Farage would always be able to win by adopting a more extreme position.
Meanwhile, cutting or scrapping inheritance tax was viewed as an unpopular policy when taken in context of the £12bn of welfare cuts pencilled in for the manifesto.
Cutting benefits while giving a tax cut to the rich would have “played badly” on the doorstep, and using the cash from welfare savings to give a “broad-based” tax cut to 30m people through national insurance was viewed as a better policy, the first source said.
A Tory spokesman said the manifesto had been “worked on for many months” with the Prime Minister “extremely involved” alongside Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, ministers and MPs.
A senior Tory campaign official said the overall message to former Conservative voters who were considering backing Labour or Reform was: “Time to choose. Don’t have buyer’s remorse when you end up paying more with Starmer.”
After the manifesto launch at Silverstone racetrack, there was little immediate backlash from Tory MPs.
A former Cabinet minister welcomed the document, telling i: “It’s a clear plan. Very good for entrepreneurs and families. As well as offering security for pensioners and our country.”
But asked whether it would be enough to save the Tories come polling day, the ex-minister was less convinced, replying: “I hope so.”
Another serving minister could only say they “hope” the manifesto turns around the party’s ailing fortunes.
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