Rishi Sunak has said going from “crisis to crisis” has been “not great” for Boris Johnson or anyone else, as the chancellor signalled an end to tax rises and more help for struggling families in next week’s spring statement. Sunak gave his outlook at the Conservatives’ spring conference in Blackpool, where he was interviewed by a fellow Tory MP, Paul Maynard, who asked him how he had coped with “one thing after another” including the Covid pandemic, supply chain disruption and the war in Ukraine. Pressed on how difficult it had been to get perspective with “so much going on”, Sunak told the audience of party members: “It has been a little bit, for all of us actually – the prime minister more than anyone – just crisis to crisis. It feels like that, which isn’t great. I mean, it’s not great for any of us.” His comments came as the party attempted to use its spring conference to draw a line under the prime minister’s rocky start to the year, which led to Tory attempts to oust him over lockdown-defying parties in Downing Street. Earlier, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit minister, appeared to dismiss the partygate furore as “fluff” compared with the conflict in Ukraine, while Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, told the audience he thought the pandemic was difficult but realised he did not have “the first clue about what tough is” when speaking to his Ukrainian counterpart. Sunak, considered a frontrunner to be the next Tory leader, did not mention the various troubles facing the prime minister, who is still under police investigation over the No 10 parties. But in his interview with Maynard, he gave strong hints that he may take action to help with the cost of living in the spring statement. He is thought to be weighing up cutting fuel duty as petrol and diesel prices hit record highs. He told the audience tax rises were “done” and “difficult decisions” were over, after the national insurance rise that would come into force in April, coinciding with high inflation and rising energy bills. He said he had “sympathy” for those struggling with the cost of living in the face of “global inflationary forces”, and would consider taking action “where we can make a difference”. Sunak promised at the last budget that he wanted to cut taxes in the future, but he restated that aim even more strongly in Blackpool. “I made this very clear at the budget in the autumn, that is done. We’ve made the difficult decisions that we have to make. My priority going forward is to cut taxes,” he said.