Growth vacuum
LIZ Truss did not get much right in her short tenure as Prime Minister but she was bang on the money in wanting Britain to go for growth.
The alternative is a managed decline of our economy, with stagnating GDP and a suffocating tax burden that may satisfy defeatist Remainers but should horrify anyone who wants a roaring post-pandemic recovery.
The Chancellor has been urged to tie the country to a one-size-fits-all global minimum tax (GMT) by business giant Sir James Dyson[/caption]
We need inward investment and the turbo-charging of industries to get our economy up to top speed.
We should not be hobbling employers with punitive taxes when they are already struggling to get out of first gear.
That’s why billionaire entrepreneur James Dyson is right to urge Chancellor Jeremy Hunt not to go ahead with a suicidal hike in corporation tax nor, at the same time, to tie the country to a one-size-fits-all global minimum tax.
The country voted for Brexit to be free of economic straitjackets and capitalise on our regained independence.
Treasury coffers may be empty, but there is plenty of evidence that tax cuts, properly costed and used effectively, can increase government tax income.
Not to mention giving us an advantage over our rivals in attracting and keeping world-class, wealth-creating businesses.
Fair on borders
THE woke Left like to paint anyone concerned about the number of immigrants coming unchecked into the country as small-minded or racist.
To them, every single person who comes in a small boat across the Channel is escaping war, tyranny and oppression — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary — and every forced removal is to be resisted no matter how dangerous the deportee.
It’s blatant nonsense, and the way that Britons have opened their hearts and their homes to Ukrainian refugees gives the lie to the xenophobe slurs.
But, as Rishi Sunak prepares to unveil hard-hitting new laws this week to stop illegal migrants resisting deportation, it is vital that there are also easier paths for genuine asylum-seekers to come here safely, and legally.
Only then can the Government make headway on an issue that was long since hijacked by people-smuggling gangsters.
An even brake
JUST as Jeremy Hunt would put the brakes on any recovery by raising corporation tax, so he risks stalling the economy if he raises fuel duty in his budget.
Heaping more costs on hard-pressed motorists will only punish workers already hammered by the cost-of-living crisis, and van and lorry drivers, who are the lifeblood of the economy, will be driven to the wall just when they should be incentivised instead.
Don’t be fuelish, Mr Hunt.
Keep it down.
