Liam O'Dell
Mar 07, 2024
Today, BBC Radio 4
The Labour Party has come under fire for its choice of attack ads before â namely in the form of a series of âgutter politicsâ graphics claiming Rishi Sunak doesnât support jailing child abusers or those in possession of a gun with an intent to harm, or that schools should be safe â but now one post shared following this weekâs Budget has been branded âscaryâ and âhorrificâ.
One of the headline measures announced by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, on Wednesday was a 2p cut to national insurance â a move Labourâs analysis says will cost £46 billion a year.
In a tweet shared to Twitter on Thursday, Labour wrote: âThe Tories have revealed they are planning a £46 billion unfunded tax cut. Rishi Sunak canât say how heâs paying for it.
âNow where have we heard that before?â
Accompanying the text is a half-and-half blended image of Rishi Sunak and Liz Trussâs faces, along with a caption which reads: âRishi Sunak is planning unfunded tax cuts bigger than Liz Trussâ.
âYou know, the ones that crashed the economy and left you paying more on your mortgage.â
That is, of course, in reference to Trussâs disastrous mini-Budget, which spooked the markets and caused the pound to plummet, culminating in the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and Trussâs eventual resignation, which made her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK political history.
Yet it wasnât so much that comparison which has got people talking in the replies, but rather the troubling edit creating a character one tweeter branded âLishi Trunakâ:
Itâs not the first time that an amalgamation of Tory prime ministers has horrified the public, as back in September 2022 the Daily Mirror published a front page blending the portraits of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, complete with the headline: âSame old Toriesâ.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the Conservatives have launched a giveaway of Keir Starmer-branded flip flops, and have come under fire for releasing an edited clip of London mayor Sadiq Khan saying Labour is âproud to be anti-racist and antisemiticâ, before the Labour politician immediately corrected himself.
We simply cannot wait for the general election, where we definitely wonât see more cursed and ethically questionable campaign materials released by both partiesâ¦
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