The right-wing party Liberal Alliance has scrapped its 2035 economic plan and will no longer support a full abolition of the top tax. Instead the goal is to halve it, party leader Alex Vanopslagh told Jyllands-Posten, ahead of the party’s national meeting this weekend.
In the interview, he revealed only aspects of Liberal Alliance’s new economic plan, which is yet to be presented in full.
“Economic conditions may change, so if we present it now, we would have to adjust it and relaunch it right before the election. So it won’t be presented until later,” he explained.
Vanopslagh also voiced his intention that Liberal Alliance will become a leading government party: “The goal and hope is that we can become a leading government party, and it is in this light that we also believe that we must present a plan that can be implemented in one election period,” he said.
While Liberal Alliance’s incremental approach to reducing the top tax is new, the party’s ultimate stance – that the top tax must be removed – has not.
Vanopslagh also revealed that the party will not seek as many public sector budget cuts as previously announced.
Liberal Alliance, which currently has 15 seats in the Folketing, is polling very favourably. In the latest survey carried out by Epinion for DR, the party has 24 mandates – making it the third largest party in the Folketing.
This has fuelled speculation about whether Vanopslagh will put himself forward as a candidate for Prime Minister in the next election.
Speaking to Jyllands-Posten, he dismissed the idea: “It’s a no, understood in the sense that it’s not what fills up my head. If I had the choice between ‘you can become Minister for Equality and implement this plan you are going to present’, and ‘you can become Prime Minister, and then you will only be able to implement a fraction’, then I would take the position of Minister for Equality,” he said.
Meanwhile, the seasoned former Venstre politician Claus Hjort Frederiksen spoke favourably of Vanoplasgh’s potential candidacy in an interview with Berlingske on Sunday.
“It is quite obvious that he is at the head of the large right-wing party. Therefore, it is also obvious that he takes on that task,” he said.
