Chancellor should not increase taxes at the budget, says MP

RISHI SUNAK should “definitely not” increase taxes at the Budget but must outline his “road map” to pay back pandemic borrowing, according to a Conservative Westcountry MP.

Mel Stride, chairman of the Treasury Committee, also said it is important the Chancellor “looks at targeting wherever possible” further coronavirus job support and “not just blanket universal extensions” to existing schemes when he delivers his speech on March 3. But in the “more medium term,” Mr Stride said, “there is going to be a very large, or there is already a very large fiscal hole”, noting the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment not to raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance “doesn’t refer to the thresholds”.

Speaking to the Press Association, he said: “I’ve always taken the view that I think these are such exceptional times, that I think the Chancellor should be forgiven if ultimately he decides that there are some manifesto commitments and the commitment, for example, to 0.7% for international aid has been broken, so I think he could be forgiven under these exceptional circumstances to look at every area. I don’t think anything should be off the table.”

The MP for Central Devon said the third lockdown and second wave of the pandemic meant the Chancellor was “now having to continue to focus on the bridge between the crisis and the recovery”.

He said: “I expect much of his Budget is going to be about perhaps extending existing schemes. I think it’s very important, though, that it’s not just blanket universal extensions, that it’s important that he looks at targeting wherever possible in terms of further job support.”