TREASURY chief secretary Chris Philp has insisted the Government’s U-turn on the 45p rate of a tax should not become a distraction from its overall growth package.
He said: “The Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been listening, I’ve been listening to the public opinion, and I’ve been listening to parliamentary opinion as well.
“And I think that there is significant opposition and it’s a distraction from the wider package of measures in the growth plan. This particular element is only around 5% of the growth plan by value, less than a 20th…
“In the fullness of time, people’s incomes, with growth being unleashed, will lead to higher wages, higher earnings, better jobs being created, and of course, ultimately, the tax revenues being sustainably generated to fund our public services.”
Speaking in an interview with GB News political correspondent Tom Harwood, he said: “The Government is a Government that listens, it’s taken the temperature and we are a part of democracy, and we’re a parliamentary democracy.
“So listening to both the public and of course to members of Parliament is very important. That’s what they’ve done. This has become a distraction from what is a really good plan.
“There are many bits of this plan that haven’t even been reported in the last week and a half. I was with a group of SMEs yesterday and when I drew their attention to the annual investment allowance being increased to one million pounds, they’re really delighted by that.
“It’ll help SMEs and small businesses across the UK invest in our country’s future, but that measure hasn’t even been reported.”
He added: “If you look at what the CBI, the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses, and the British Chambers of Commerce have been saying – they’ve welcomed this growth plan.
“What we now need to do is get on and implement it to make sure that people’s wages can increase and, of course, it contains tax cuts for everybody. It contains tax cuts for all 30 million of the United Kingdom’s working people, which is really important.”
Mr Philp said: “The purpose, by the way, of reducing those taxes is not just to alleviate the burden on working families, rich and poor alike, because these tax cuts were going ahead to benefit everybody, all 30 million workers and many, many businesses as well.
“It’s also to stimulate higher growth and once we get higher growth that increases the tax yield the amount of tax paid in cash terms, which in turn creates opportunities to reduce tax, but we’re going to be measured about that.
“We’re going to do this in a way that is fiscally responsible. We think just now the measures we’ve announced are frankly the only ones that are affordable, fiscally affordable.
“We’re going to do these and we’re going to get the economy growing and then take it from there.”
