PM favourite Liz Truss could cut taxes for tradesmen & hints families will get more help with soaring energy bills
LIZ Truss last night vowed to unleash a “small business revolution” to stop Britain sliding into painful recession.
Channelling her political hero Mrs Thatcher, she promised to rip up the Treasury “orthodoxy” to get more startups thriving.
The Foreign Secretary says tax rules are unfair as they force genuinely self-employed tradesmen, like electricians and plumbers, to pay too much.
If she gets into No10, Ms Truss will order a review into these rules, known as IR35, to ease the burden.
The overwhelming favourite to be the next PM also hinted families and businesses will get more help with soaring energy bills this winter. She said every government “has to look at making sure life is affordable for people” and she’s looking at help “across the board”, including businesses.
And she savaged militant trade unions and protesters like Extinction Rebellion for inflicting anarchy on our railways and “stopping progress”.
Read more on Liz Truss
In a wide-ranging interview with The Sun on Sunday, Ms Truss insisted recession can be averted — but only if the next PM acts quickly to unleash the country’s potential.
Sketching out her plan, she promised to usher in a “small business and self-employed revolution” because they are “the future of our economy”.
She said: “Those are the future big companies we need to develop — and why shouldn’t Britain have the next Google or the next Facebook? Why shouldn’t it be a British company?
“It’s about that level of ambition. There is too much talk that there’s going to be a recession. I don’t believe that’s inevitable. We can unleash opportunity here in Britain.”
Most read in The Sun
The economy shrank by 0.6 per cent in June and gloomy economists reckon we are hurtling towards recession. Ms Truss’ plan to avert it is simple — slash taxes to turbocharge the economy.
If she wins, Ms Truss will order a review into the IR35 tax rules, tough laws designed to stop the bogus self-employed playing the system to avoid paying their fair share. It was used to stop the likes of rich BBC presenters unfairly cutting their tax bill.
But it has been slammed for wrongly clobbering genuine self- employed tradesmen, adding thousands of pounds to their yearly tax bills. Sparkies and plumbers are being forced to cough up the same amount of tax as big company employees — without having the same security, sick and holiday pay, critics say.
Ms Truss said: “The changes that have been made to IR35 are all about trying to treat the self-employed the same as big business.
“But the fact is, if you’re self-employed, you don’t get the same benefits as being in a big company. You don’t get paid holidays, you didn’t get those benefits. So the tax system should reflect that more.”
She has already announced plans to scrap the rise in Corporation tax and National Insurance and green levies on energy bills to put cash back in pockets.
The Foreign Secretary also wants to tear up burdensome EU and UK red tape.
Promising an economic revolution, she vowed to “change the orthodoxy” of bean counters to unlock the UK’s potential.
Boris Johnson’s heir apparent said: “There is a view that the British economy can’t grow any faster, that there is a ceiling and that what we have to do is just raise taxes in order to pay for all of the things we all need — like the National Health Service, roads, rail.
“I don’t believe that’s true.
“I believe that we can grow the British economy faster. But we need to back business to deliver and we need to stop putting so much red tape, so much tax on business, and we need to get on with delivering things quicker.”
So is Liz planning more tax cuts if she wins the keys to No10? Flashing a smile the Foreign Secretary said: “Tax cuts are always on my agenda.”
She added: “Of course if I am elected Prime Minister, the Chancellor would look at how we make the tax system look as attractive to investment as possible.”
Ms Truss, 47, also wants to crack down on the bloated army of Whitehall middle managers who gobble up so much taxpayers’ cash.
She will stick to Boris’s plan to cut 91,000 civil service jobs in a move estimated to save £3.5billion.
Ms Truss said: “We certainly need to reduce the size of Whitehall and we also need to reduce the number of quangos.”
And she will pass tough new laws to stop militant rail unions, led by Mick Lynch and Co, bringing Britain to a standstill with devastating strikes.
Ms Truss said: “We are in serious economic times and we need people to go to work and we need business to be successful.
“We have to deal with these people who are trying to stop progress.”
With just a fortnight until the Tory leadership election result, the polls say Ms Truss is on course to win.
A recent one put her 32 points ahead of rival Rishi Sunak in the race for the keys to No10. But she came under attack earlier this week when a leaked recording emerged in which Ms Truss suggested British workers needed “more graft” to boost the economy.
Asked about her comments, she sidestepped the controversy, but added: “I’ve always been passionate about helping our country become more successful. I want people to have opportunities. Of course I believe in hard work.
“I want our government to be on the side of people that work hard who set up their own businesses.”
Families and businesses are in the grip of the worst cost of living crisis in 40 years. Inflation has hit a brutal 10.1 per cent and is expected to rocket even higher.
The household energy price cap is currently £1,971, but is expected to soar to £3,600 in October and go up again in January to an eye-watering £4,200.
Ms Truss suggested more help could be given to both households and small businesses clobbered by sky-high fuel prices.
She hinted more help for energy bills could be coming.
And she softened her previous suggestion that she does not want to give more “handouts” to families.
But she warned she would not “reach first for the handout” before looking at the causes of rocketing energy bills. She said: “What I really object to is taking money off people in tax and then giving them the money back in benefits. That doesn’t make sense to me.
“So that’s why I support keeping taxes low, getting the economy going, growing our economy, dealing with the supply issues.”
She added: “Now, of course, in the Budget every government has to look at making sure life is affordable for people. But what’s wrong is to reach first for the handout before you’ve addressed the root cause of a problem.” And she didn’t rule out giving cash to small businesses, who are not covered by the energy cap. She said: “I’m very, very aware that it’s not just customers, or consumers, that are facing energy price problems, it’s small businesses.”
Crucial British industries like Scotch whisky and steel are very “energy intensive” and she is looking at the problem “across the board”, she said.
But she dismissed Sir Keir Starmer’s call for a freeze on the energy price cap — dubbing it a “sticking plaster that will cost money, but isn’t actually addressing the root cause” of the problem. Britain must beef up our own energy supplies by drilling more in the North Sea, turbocharging investment in nuclear and fracking where locals want it, she said.
It is just two weeks until the next Tory leader is crowned.
If the polls are right, then Ms Truss will become the third female Prime Minister in British history.
The era of Boris Johnson will have closed and a new epoch of Girl Power looks likely to dawn in No10.
Liz — a superfan of The Spice Girls and Taylor Swift — is clearly relishing the prospect.
‘DAD’S ARMY’ TONIC FOR THE NHS
A NEW “Dad’s Army” of retired doctors, nurses and medical staff should be called up to tackle the NHS crisis, Liz Truss has said.
She spoke out amid stories of pensioners being forced to wait up to 40 hours for ambulances after falls.
Ms Truss said: “It’s about making sure we have a culture where we’re encouraging people to work in the NHS. During Covid, we successfully brought people back from retirement to help out. And what I’m interested in is how can we do that now we’re facing these critical issues in the NHS?
“Because [there are] lots of fantastic people who have worked in the health service who could help.”
She said she’d make tackling NHS waiting times a “key priority”. And Brits must be able to get a GP and dentist appointment, she pledged. She also vowed to “fix the issues in social care” to ease pressure on hospitals.
WOMEN ‘UNSAFE’
LIZ Truss blasted the Met Police for trying to prosecute women at the Sarah Everard vigil in March, branding it a “very poor decision”.
She said: “The safety of women around the UK is still not good enough and people have every right to protest.”
And she admitted she was scared for the safety of her own two teenage daughters.
MACRON PLEDGE
DEFIANT Liz Truss vowed to stop giving tens of millions to the French unless they stop the Channel migrants crisis.
Ms Truss vowed to face down Emmanuel Macron.
She said: “I will hold the French to account and make sure that we are only providing funding to them if it’s being used properly and they are delivering.”
FREE SPEECH VOW
BRITAIN must face down cancel culture and protect our authors in the wake of the Salman Rushdie stabbing, Liz Truss has declared.
Read More on The Sun
She promised to “lead by example” adding: “I’m committed to free speech. I always say what I think.”
Rushdie, 75, was attacked in New York by alleged extremist Hadi Matar, 24.