Priti Patel:

A failure to deliver tax cuts promised in the manifesto will shake confidence in this Government

Budgets can make or break reputations and governments. Geoffrey Howe’s Budget of 1981 is remembered for transforming the economy and delivering economic freedoms to families and businesses. Gordon Brown’s Budgets stick in the mind for less positive reasons: his tax raid on pensions, his scrapping of the 10p rate of income tax, and his miserly 75p increase in the state pension.

Philip Hammond delivers his latest Budget this Monday. Having spent time as a minister in the Treasury through a budget setting cycle, I know the intensive lobbying the Chancellor will be receiving, including demands for more spending.

But setting a Budget is about making responsible choices and decisions in the long-term economic interests of the country. It is not a beauty parade for deciding which interests to back and lobbying campaigns to support with taxpayers’ money.

While great progress has been made in reducing the deficit, the Government is still set to borrow about £30billion this year and next, with the national debt now exceeding £1.8trillion or the equivalent of 85 per cent of our annual GDP. This borrowing costs taxpayers money.

As tempting as it might be for the Chancellor to open the purse strings off the back of better-than-expected financial forecasts, we cannot be complacent with the economy and the public finances. A clear focus on balancing the books and living within our means must continue and any additional fiscal flexibility the Chancellor has should be used to support economic growth and productivity.

In other words, the Chancellor should deliver a truly Conservative Budget.

This means looking at delivering our manifesto commitment to reduce the tax burden on families. We campaigned clearly to raise the tax-free personal allowance for basic-rate taxpayers to £12,500 and for higher-rate taxpayers to £50,000 by 2020.

There are some who may resist this and claim it will affect the public finances. But the Government must not give up on tax cuts, and the fundamental notion that lower taxes incentivise work, investment and risk-taking.

Conservatives in Government must make the case that lowering the tax burden boosts economic growth and leads to an increase in tax revenues. Since 2011, total receipts from income tax, for example, have increased every year and now the tax raises 20 per cent more for investment in public services.

Abandoning a key manifesto commitment that would make people better off would undermine confidence in the Government and go against the grain of what we believe in as Conservatives. Tory MPS will struggle to support such measures.

Similarly, the Government must not undermine those who have been responsible and saved for their retirement by investing in a pension by eroding pensions tax relief.

The Government does not have the full means to support an ageing population in their retirement years and it is right that, as Conservatives, we help people to make their own provision. Enabling people to keep more of what they earn and empowering them through greater economic freedoms are fundamental Conservative principles and should stand at the heart of any Budget from a Conservative Chancellor.

At a time when Britain is leaving the EU, our country should be poised to become more attractive for investment and Britain should lead a worldwide revolution in low taxes.

The UK’S approach to fiscal matters is particularly poor and our tax system has been deteriorating for years. The Budget is a chance to simplify it by integrating income tax and national insurance into a single levy.

This has been talked about by Government since 2010 and delivering this reform will make tax affairs easier for people to manage, especially small businesses and the self-employed.

With tax receipts set to provide the Chancellor with close to £800billion, there is also scope for him to make investments to boost long-term economic growth, job creation and productivity. Investing in economic zones, encouraging a renaissance of the regions and upgrading key infrastructure across the UK will inject new economic dynamism into parts of the country that have faced under-investment for too long.

As the last Budget to take place before we leave the EU on March 29 2019, it cannot be one that muddles through, raises the tax burden, provides an endless flow of cash to the EU or leaves hard-pressed taxpayers worse off.

The purpose of Conservative Budgets is to empower the British people and revitalise the country. Now is the time to promote economic liberty and prosperity, boost economic freedoms and inspire confidence in a post-brexit Britain.