Boris Johnson has refused to rule out raising taxes again following a controversial increase in National Insurance to pay for changes to social care.
At the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the prime minister dodged a question on whether his party would rise again.
He said that there was “no fiercer and more zealous opponent of unnecessary tax rises” than him, but stopped short at pledging not to break his 2019 manifesto promise not to raise taxes again as the UK recovers from the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden criticised what he termed the “woke aggression” of the Labour Party, which he claimed had led to many voters switching to the Tories.
Mr Dowden said that Labour had “woke running through it like a stick of Brighton rock”.
“Previous generations of Labour leaders, activists and voters would look in dismay at what Labour has become,” he said.
Mr Dowden added: “If you want to know why Labour lost the last general election so badly, it’s because so many of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of people like [my grandfather] in communities up and down the country believe that Labour has turned its back on them.”
