Prime Minister Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng visit Ebbsfleet after mini-budget
Published: 17:08, 23 September 2022
Updated: 20:55, 23 September 2022
The Prime Minister and Chancellor visited Kent today shortly after revealing their 'mini-budget'.
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng went to Berkley Modular Housing Factory in Ebbsfleet this afternoon.
It comes as a wave of tax-cutting measures were unveiled.
Under the plan for the basic rate of income tax cut to 19% in April 2023 – one year earlier than planned – the Treasury says 31 million people will on average see tax savings of £170 more per year.
Kwasi Kwarteng said to MPs that the planned rise to corporation tax would be cancelled as he announced the cap on banker bonuses would be scrapped.
Aside from tax cuts, the government had announced that it intends to create special zones in which planning restrictions would be eased.
The aim according to the Chancellor is to stop big infrastructure projects from getting bogged down in red tape and a planning system which slows down the process.
These areas, described as ‘investment zones’, would also see tax lowered for businesses and possibly for residents.
But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the strategy amounts to an “admission of 12 years of economic failure” under successive Conservative governments.
The Labour MP described the Prime Minister and Mr Kwarteng as “two desperate gamblers in a casino chasing a losing run”.
In response, during his visit to Ebbsfleet today, Mr Kwarteng said his economic vision would “turn the vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth”.
He rejected the suggestion his economic announcement in Parliament on Friday was "a gamble".
He told reporters: "It's not a gamble.
"What is a gamble is thinking that you can keep raising taxes and getting prosperity, which was clearly not working.
"We cannot have a tax system where you are getting a 70-year high, so the last time we had tax rates at this level before my tax cuts was actually before her late majesty had acceded to the throne.
"That was completely unsustainable and that's why I'm delighted to have been able to reduce taxes across the piste this morning.
"I think it's a very good day for the UK because we've got a growth plan. We're very, very upbeat about what we can do as a country.
"We were facing low growth, and we want a high growth economy. And that's what this morning was all about."
Mr Kwarteng explained that everyone is getting a tax cut.
He said: "It's absolutely fair to reduce people's taxes and to make sure that people are going to retain more of what they earn.
"The path we were on was simply unsustainable.
"We couldn't simply raise taxes indefinitely, and hope that we would get prosperity.
"That's why this morning, I reduced the tax burden across the piste and I'm very very committed to that."
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Megan Carr