3 min read
Standing in front of Downing Street for the first time as Prime Minister, I pledged to take decisive action to see us through the economic storm that is upon us following the appalling war of Covid and Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. I promised to unlock the potential of our UK and ensure it becomes a stronger and better nation.
Together we have just mourned the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the rock on which modern Britain was built. We now propose under His Majesty King Charles III. We are beginning a new chapter in our national history and will approach this new era with a fresh approach.
I am determined to reform our economy to get Britain moving. For too long, politicians have been locked in a struggle over how to slice the economic pie in different ways. Instead, we have shown our willingness to do things differently by focusing on making the pie bigger.
We remain committed to the fundamentals of fiscal responsibility: sound public finances, lean government and deleveraging
Our growth plan sets out how we will achieve our goal of 2.5 percent growth. Of course, growth is about much more than numbers in a spreadsheet. Basically, a growing economy gives families and businesses hope for a better future. Growth means people have more money, companies can invest more in their future and create jobs. It’s key to providing more funding for our public services, including the NHS, schools and the armed forces. Because of this, I will not apologize for our relentless focus on growth.
We believe people deserve to keep more of the money they make. And so we’re putting our money into action by delivering the biggest package of tax cuts in generations.
More than 30 million people will benefit from our income tax and Social Security changes. We will completely eliminate the additional income tax rate from April next year to reward entrepreneurship and incentivize growth for the benefit of the economy as a whole.
We’re helping homebuyers, especially first-time buyers, climb the ladder by reducing stamp duty. We’re reversing the corporate tax hike to maintain our lead in the global marketplace.
We will elevate the country through the power of free enterprise, creating new investment zones across the country in areas like the Tees Valley, Norfolk and the Midlands.
This is conservatism in action: we take a pro-growth, pro-consumer, pro-business approach to unlocking our country’s potential.
At the same time, we remain committed to the fundamentals of fiscal responsibility: healthy public finances, a lean government and debt reduction. I know the prospect of prohibitive energy bills has many families and businesses worried about how they will weather this winter. That’s why we took immediate action to deal with the energy crisis. We are expected to cut everyone’s energy bill by £1,400 this year through our Energy Price Guarantee, support the UK public and reduce peak inflation by around 5%. We are easing the pressure on the bills in the short term while tackling the root causes of this crisis with the necessary reforms to ensure the UK never finds itself in a situation like this again.
This is just the beginning of our ongoing program of supply-side interventions over the coming weeks and beyond.
My strong team of ministers will unveil and implement more measures to help our economy grow, including changes to the planning system, business regulations, childcare, immigration, agricultural productivity and digital infrastructure.
Only the Conservatives can be trusted to deliver the results the British people expect. We will do everything we can to put Britain on the path to long-term success.
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