Tax cuts needed to ‘reach the sunlit uplands’, says Sorrell

THE Government must lower taxes and remove red tape if it wants to drive long-term growth and “reach the sunlit uplands”, Sir Martin Sorrell has said.

Sir Martin, chief of advertising group S4 Capital, said Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, had failed to set out a plan to grow the economy with policies that would encourage businesses to invest.

He made the comments after listening to a pledge by Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary, to “scale-up Britain” and become a leader in technology.

Sir Martin’s criticism comes just a day after billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Dyson warned that growth had “become a dirty word” in Britain since Mr Sunak became Prime Minister.

Asked what he made of Sir James’s comments, Sir Martin said: “He’s right. We need a long-term growth plan.”

“It will [involve] lower taxes and less regulation. But in the long term, it’s got to be a comprehensive plan that covers all areas.”

The founder of WPP and executive chairman of S4 Capital, said there was no “long-term gain” attached to Jeremy Hunt’s £55bn package of tax rises and spending cuts in the Autumn Statement. Businesses have warned that taxing workers and businesses more will deter growth and investment.

Sir Martin said he understood the need for higher levies in the short term, adding that Mr Sunak’s pledge to “grow the economy” was a good goal.

But he added: “The big question is, how do we get to those sunlit uplands? I’m willing to take short-term pain, but where’s the long-term gain and how are we going to get there? We’re very short on policies.”

“[Rishi Sunak] had to raise taxes. That’s not fine, but it’s acceptable, as long as we have a clear vision about where we’re going, and more importantly, how we’re going to get there.”

Mr Shapps vowed to turn the UK’S tech sector into a “Silicon Valley with a British edge” insisting that economic growth was the “cornerstone of everything we are doing”.

However, Mr Shapps’s pledge to turn Britain into a tech hub came as technology startups warned they will lose an average £100,000 per year as a result of Mr Hunt’s plans to slash tax relief for research.