Defence Ben Wallace - a former Scottish Conservative MSP - is the most popular cabinet minister among those who will choose the next leader, according to a regular survey of Conservative Party members by the ConservativeHome website with an approval rating of +85.
Rishi Sunak has become the least popular after the revelation that his wife was a non-dom, an “outdated” tax status that Labour is pledging to abolish.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s standing among Tory activists has taken a big hit after he was fined for breaking his own Covid laws. He is the third most unpopular figure, the poll published today shows.
But after months of topping the survey during the pandemic, the Chancellor’s ratings turned negative for the first time, with a net satisfaction of minus 5. He is the only cabinet minister with a negative rating.
The poll follows a bruising month in which Mr Sunak’s spring statement was widely criticised for failing to do enough to help with the cost of living and he was criticised for the way he handled revelations about the non-dom status held by his wife, Akshata Murty.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Labour said today that it would abolish the “outdated, unjustifiable and unfair” status, which allows people with overseas links to avoid paying UK taxes on their foreign income.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, argued that “if you make Britain your home, you should pay your taxes here”, saying: “As the Tories raise taxes on working people, it simply isn’t right that those at the top can benefit from outdated non-dom tax perks.”
Non-dom status is held by 75,700 people in the UK. Labour had committed to abolishing it under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, but today is the first time it had made the same commitment under Sir Keir Starmer.
About £1 billion a year would be raised by abolishing the status, Reeves estimated, although she acknowledged that people arriving from overseas would still be able to avoid UK taxes on overseas income for up to five years, down from 15 at present.
“Of course, we would need to have a temporary tax residence status for people who are genuinely here for short periods of time and are not making Britain their home,” she told Today on BBC Radio 4.
“What I’m proposing today simply brings us in line with our major competitors — countries like France, like Canada, like Japan, that have a short-term temporary scheme ... In France and in Canada, it is six months, in Japan it is five years. We would consult with business to get that right.
“It could be as long as five years, but between six months and five years is what other countries do.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel was at the bottom of the cabinet rankings last month with a rating of minus 14 but that has now jumped to plus 31 after she announced a policy of sending asylum seekers who arrive in Britain illegally to Rwanda.
She had faced months of criticism from Conservative voters for failing to get to grips with the numbers crossing the channel in small boats.
Johnson’s rating of plus 7 is down from plus 33 last month and means he is now less popular than the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross or the Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies.
Wallace tops the table, unchanged from last month after widespread praise for his handling of the Ukraine crisis. Foreign Secretary Truss is second on plus 64, a slight improvement on last month.
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, and Stephen Barclay, the No 10 chief of staff and Cabinet Office minister, all have ratings above plus 50.
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