'Come home and cancel the national insurance hike', Sir John Redwood urges PM

19 February 2022, 15:11 | Updated: 19 February 2022, 15:43

'We want the Brexit freedoms and we want them now!'

Conservative MP Sir John Redwood urged Boris Johnson to "cancel" April's national insurance hike and lead the nation to the "sunlit uplands" of growth, greater prosperity, and more jobs, when he comes home from Munich.

It comes as former Brexit minister David Frost outlined his "three-point plan to save Boris, the Conservative Party and the country", which included abandoning the planned tax rises of National Insurance and Corporation Tax.

Boris Johnson spoke at a security conference today in Munich, Germany, and said the world would witness "the destruction of a democratic state" if Russia invaded Ukraine and "the shock will echo around the world".

Sir John addressed Rishi Sunak directly on the national insurance hike: "This is wrong, Chancellor. It's bad economics, it's worse politics. It's wrong for the British people that they will have this daylight robbery from the treasury in exactly the months when they've got to dig deep to pay the gas bill."

On Boris Johnson's speech today in Munich, Andrew said: "Most people are saying it was a powerful speech, and I heard one of your colleagues saying when he's got his back to the wall he's at his best."

Tobias Ellwood takes aim at UK response to Ukraine crisis

Read more: Putin may launch 'false flag chemical weapons attack' before Ukraine invasion

Sir John replied: "I think he's been a strong voice on the Ukraine matter and we trust that goes well. I think that the West needs to resist the barbarism of some of the Russian threats and attitudes.

"But this next election is going to be won back here at home. It's the battle of the cost-of-living that matters far more to most of the voters, so I urge him to come home and cancel the national insurance."

Mr Redwood continued: "He was given this huge trust by the British people, so please Prime Minister, respond to that trust by leading us to the sunlit uplands of growth, greater prosperity, more jobs, greater freedoms - we want the Brexit freedoms and we want them now!"

Read more: Ukraine crisis: You've got to decide which side you're on in this, says Iain Dale