Sir Tony Blair has told the Conservatives to tax less and spend less, calling on the Government to use technological innovation to reduce costs in the public sector.
The former Labour prime minister told ITV’s Robert Peston that the Government “should be spending less and taxing less than they are at the moment”, advising the Tories to look into ways of using technological advancement to make the most of public spending.
Sir Tony said: “Even if you had extra money, the levels of spending are very, very high. The levels of taxation are high.
“Even if we didn’t have an immediate problem – which we do because of cost of living and inflation and so on – I think for any government that comes in today, the question is not how do you spend more public money, the question is how do you get value for the public money you spend?”
Sir Tony said the answer was the “technology revolution”, which he believes “offers Government the opportunity to drive through efficiency and change.”
Using the example of the healthcare sector, the former prime minister said there were many examples of “types of innovation in healthcare that take pressure off the system” and could ease the burden on the NHS.
“So what I’m saying really is the whole, and personally I find this an exciting project for Government, they should be thinking in every single area of the public sector – how do we use technology to do things completely different and reduce costs? Because in the end, we should be spending less and taxing less than we are at the moment.”
The former Labour leader also spoke about Sir Keir Starmer, with whom he shared a platform earlier this week at a Tony Blair Institute event in London, describing him as “very tough”.
He said: “It’s very easy to underestimate him because he’s not flamboyant, but he’s pretty immovable when he’s set his sight on something and he’s set his sight on governing and like he’s being at the moment, he’s being very tough with the Labour Party about spending commitments and I think he’s absolutely right.
He’s just saying: ‘Look, if we’re saying it’s as bad as it is, we can’t just made unfunded promises.’”
？Among the recent rows over “spending commitments” that have caused friction in the Labour Party is the conflict over the two child benefit cap, which Sir Keir refused to say he would abolish should he become prime minister.
Sir Tony sided with the Labour leader, telling Peston: “I should imagine he, like me, is probably completely opposed to it. But the question is that before you get in and before you see what the state of things are, can you commit to changing it?”
When asked whether Sir Keir should have just responded to a question about whether or not he would keep the cap, which came into force in 2017, by saying that he did not know what he would do, Sir Tony said: “You can never say that, I’m afraid. I mean I can say that now because I’m not in front-line politics, but no.”