Rishi Sunak has said he is “up for the fight” as the Conservatives continue to lag far behind Labour in the polls. In an interview with the Times, the prime minister said hard work ought to be rewarded with tax cuts and that he would slash taxes as soon as it was “responsible to do so”. “At the beginning of this year there is a sense that the country is pointing in the right direction,” he told the newspaper. “Because economic conditions have improved, because the plan is working, you are starting to see mortgage rates come down and we have been able to cut taxes. “I do believe those pressures are starting to ease and that hopefully over the course of this year we can continue to make even more progress.” Hopes that a pre-election giveaway, as well as an improved economic outlook, will help close the polling gap on Keir Starmer’s Labour party are central to the prime minister’s optimism that he can turn his party’s fortunes around. A renewed promise to cut taxes came after the publication of his own tax summary showed his UK tax bill was more than £500,000 last year, as his total income rose to £2.2m. Critics pointed out that he paid the same effective tax rate, about 23% of his annual income, as a teacher, despite raking in millions more. That is because most of his earnings were in the form of capital gains, which is taxed at a lower rate than income. It comes as the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, sought to temper expectations about the size of tax reductions in his spring budget, despite clamouring within the Tory ranks for cuts. Sunak said: “None of us ever talk about this stuff before budgets. Other people are. I think they’re over-interpreting. What the chancellor and I have said is that of course our long-term plan is to cut people’s taxes.” The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, told the Times: “Rishi Sunak’s words will ring hollow to the millions of families across Britain who have been left worse off after 14 years of Conservative failure. “There have been 25 Tory tax rises since the election and the average household is set to be £1,200 worse off under Rishi Sunak’s tax plan. It’s time for a change and a Labour government with a plan to invest in Britain’s future.” Meanwhile, Sunak was described as out of touch earlier this week for accepting a £1,000 bet with broadcaster Piers Morgan on the success of the government’s Rwanda asylum scheme before the election. The former investment banker and hedge fund manager’s vast wealth was highlighted by the release of his tax documents on Friday. His total income was up 13% from the previous year, rising to £2.2m, and taking his total earnings over the last four years to about £7m. His effective tax rate of 23% is the same rate paid by a teacher on a salary of £41,600 a year, according to Tax Justice UK. Its executive director, Robert Palmer, said: “This is a feature of our broken tax system. At the moment, someone who earns most of their money from their wealth, like the prime minister, pays a much lower tax rate than someone who relies on going out to work for their living.”