We’ll slash corporation tax if No Deal, says Raab

BrITAIN could slash corporation tax to 10 per cent in the event of a No Deal Brexit, Dominic raab has suggested.

In a tough warning to the eU, the Brexit Secretary indicated that a dramatic tax cut could be within the Chancellor’s ‘fiscal capacity’ to keep the economy afloat.

Corporation tax, a tax on company profits, currently stands at 19 per cent, with a pledge to reduce it to 17 per cent by 2020.

But Mr raab said the Treasury would use every possible measure to give the UK an edge on the eU if talks collapse without a new trade deal in place.

Philip Hammond yesterday used his speech to conference to declare Britain could weather a No Deal storm, insisting he would ‘maintain enough fiscal firepower to support our economy if that happens’. At a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference last night, Mr raab was asked whether or not this could include cutting corporation tax to 10 per cent.

He replied: ‘The Chancellor has talked about reserving fiscal fire power – what more do you want? Of course he is talking about recognition that in the No Deal scenario we want to pull every lever we have got to see us through the short-term buffeting we have.’

The threat to cut taxes to lure businesses to Britain is likely to anger Brussels, which would see it as an attempt to undercut the eU’s competitiveness. It came after Mr raab’s main speech to the conference hall, in which he rounded on establishment figures trying to block Brexit, accusing them of ‘disdain for democracy’.

In a furious tirade at ‘senior politicians and establishment figures’ behind the campaign for a second referendum he warned that if they succeeded, they would open the door to extremism and populists in British politics. He also hailed the Prime Minister’s ‘pragmatic, not dogmatic’ approach to Brexit.

Last night, Jean-Claude Juncker suggested that British planes may not be able to land in the eU if Brexit goes wrong.

The eC president also said a four-day quarantine may be imposed on pet dogs and cats passing from the UK to continental europe and again on their return journey.