In Friday’s mini-budget, the government plans to cut national insurance and scrap a planned rise in corporation tax as it tries to reduce the record tax burden. Kwasi Kwarteng, the new chancellor, is expected to announce the creation of a network of low-tax, low-regulation investment zones and there may be changes to business rates. But Tras’s remarks ahead of this week’s emergency “budget event” suggest she could be ready to go further in the coming months, with a full budget expected in November. He told reporters that the “number one thing” he wanted to deliver was economic growth, adding: “Lower taxes lead to economic growth, I have no doubt about that.” He said: “Having the highest taxes in 70 years and imposing corporation tax at a time when we are trying to attract investment to this country is not going to bring growth. We have to be competitive.” Truss appeared to defend controversial plans, expected to be confirmed on Friday, to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses, admitting: “Not all measures will be popular.” He said: “There are always vested interests, people who oppose measures that increase economic growth, but what is important to me, what is important to the chancellor, is that people have more opportunities, there is more investment, there are jobs with higher wages. We are ready to make that argument. It’s about increasing the size of the pie.” The prime minister admitted there were “other measures” the government needed to take to boost economic growth, such as investing in projects such as broadband. But he has clearly prioritized tax cuts as a means of boosting productivity, even though economists have argued the government should also focus on infrastructure, investment, skills and wages. Truss said she was willing to make the argument that the pursuit of growth should be her single biggest priority when asked if she was taking a huge gamble on the economy. “The number one thing we have to deliver as a government, and indeed as a country, is economic development,” he said. “Since the financial crisis we’ve seen relatively low levels of economic growth and without economic growth we can’t deliver better lives for people, whether that’s higher wages or money that can be put into public services like the NHS or the education service.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Asked what she planned to do to help struggling families in her mini-budget, she replied: “What’s important is what makes Britain more competitive.” Truss said she wanted to deliver a higher pay economy, with the average worker currently earning around £9,000 a year less as a result of more than a decade of stagnation. Some Tory MPs believe Kwarteng could even bring forward by a year his predecessor Rishi Sunak’s pledge when he was chancellor to cut income tax by 1% from 2024. The Truss team also spoke to business groups about changes to business rates and cuts to VAT to help tackle the energy crisis, as well as a longer-term review of these taxes.
