Bullish Boris unleashes his inner Maggie
Bold pledge to cut taxes, slash spending and remove tariffs on some food imports
BORIS Johnson revealed a Thatcherite streak yesterday as he pledged to slash government spending and cut taxes.
And he indicated he will start by reducing tariffs on imported food.
In his first major speech since this week’s bruising revolt against his leadership, the Prime Minister signalled a drive to cut the size of the state in the wake of the pandemic.
Echoing both Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, he said there were many areas where the Government should ‘simply get out of the way’ and let people get on with their lives.
He said he was determined to lower the record tax burden, which he described as an ‘aberration’ caused largely by the ‘fiscal meteorite of Covid’.
But sustained tax cuts would require a reduction in the size of the state following a period of ‘phenomenal corporate welfare’, he said.
In comments that will cheer the Tory Right, Mr Johnson said: ‘It is time for the Government to stop spending, and to start cutting taxes and cutting regulation.
‘Sometimes the best way that government can help is simply to get out of the way. To do less or better, or simply not at all.’
Mr Johnson dropped a heavy hint that the new
‘Burden must come down’
tax-cutting agenda will start with the removal of import tariffs on a range of foodstuffs that are not produced in this country, such as coffee, tea, rice, olive oil and bananas.
Speaking in Blackpool, he said the Government was ‘on the side of British farmfirmed ers’ and would maintain ‘sensible’ tariffs to protect domestic agriculture.
But he added: ‘We are also on the side of British consumers. We do not grow many olives in this country that I’m aware of.
‘Why do we have a tariff of 93p per kilo on Turkish olive oil? Why do we have a tariff on bananas?’
Whitehall sources conthe plans to cut food tariffs – a move opposed by Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who argues it could weaken the UK’s hand in trade negotiations. Mr Johnson is said to have sided with other Cabinet ministers, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who argue it is a good way of using the UK’s post-Brexit freedoms to cut the cost of living.
The PM did not rule out a further reduction to fuel duty. But he said the first priority was to ensure the 5p-a-litre cut agreed in March is being passed on in full and not ‘swallowed up’ by petrol retailers.
Rishi Sunak is resisting Tory pressure to cut personal taxes in his autumn Budget, arguing that it would risk fuelling runaway inflation. The PM appeared to acknowledge the risk but added: ‘The overall burden of taxation is now very high. Sooner or later – and I would much rather it was sooner than later – that burden must come down.’
In comments that were condemned by trade unions, the PM said wage restraint would be needed to prevent inflation sparking a recession.
He hinted at other measures to cut the cost of living, such as increasing the number of children a childminder can look after.
And he called for reform of the rail industry to prevent even higher fares, such as closing ticket offices that now see little use, saying: ‘There are fully manned ticket offices in this country that barely sell a ticket a week.’
MARGARET Thatcher knew that you can’t expect people without capital, or without hope of acquiring it, to be capitalists.
Whenever the Tories make it easier for people to join the property-owning democracy, there is a bounce in the party’s political fortunes. So this paper welcomes Boris Johnson’s ambitious plans to get more people on the housing ladder, freeing themselves from eye-watering rents.
Relaxing the rules so people with smaller deposits can buy homes is certainly a step in the right direction.
However, these alone will not tackle the housing crisis. Unless more homes are built, the shake-up risks worsening the problem – pushing prices further out of reach.
Mr Johnson must hurry through planning reforms, so more houses are built on brownfield sites. Curbing excessive immigration, too, would reduce the need to surrender green fields.
And one way of helping people save up for a home is not pilfering so much from their pay packets. So we applaud the PM for revealing a Thatcherite streak by pledging to cut taxes.
The tax burden’s 70-year high was, he said, an ‘aberration’. If only he knew someone who could do something about it!