The PM has been in New York speaking to business leaders and Government officials from around the world
THERESA May will today pledge to oversee a “low tax” economy after we leave the EU as she makes a major Brexit sales pitch to global business leaders.
Speaking in New York she will tell the world’s biggest firms they should have confidence to invest in post-Brexit Britain because of her plan to create “one of the most dynamic and business friendly economies in the word”.
The PM will also appeal to business chiefs by vowing to implement ground-breaking trade deals with the likes of the US – and will insist she will win a comprehensive trade deal with the EU.
Britain is already on course to have the lowest business taxes of the world’s G20 countries with the Government’s target to cut corporation tax to 17 per cent by 2020. It is currently at 19 per cent.
Her speech doesn’t spell out any new policies but it signals she could go further and slash business taxes further after Brexit to make Britain an even more competitive business hub than EU rivals.
In her speech to the Bloomberg Business Forum Mrs May will also sell post-Brexit Britain by laying out a blueprint for “smart regulation” after we’re free of EU red tape.
And she will tell world leaders that her government’s “sound approach to public finance and dependable approach to high standards” will help make Britain “unequivocally pro-business”.
In an unashamedly pro-business sales pitch she will tell the bosses of the world’s biggest firms – including drinks corporation InBev and tech giant Google - that her economic plans will “drive investment opportunities for your businesses” by “spreading the benefits of new sectors and technologies to every part of my country”.
Mrs May will admit there is “clearly a lot further to go” in Brexit talks with Brussels. But she will tell business leaders that she remains confident of securing a deal later this year – declaring there is “no other plan” than her Chequers blueprint that protects jobs and Britain’s’ business interests at the same time as respecting the referendum result.
In an unashamedly pro-business pitch at today’s business forum in New York, Mrs May is expected to say: “Looking beyond the EU, we are absolutely committed to delivering continuity in terms of relationships with existing bi-lateral partners – and we want to forge the most dynamic and ambitious Free Trade Agreements with old friends and new allies alike.
"Crucially we also have a plan to deliver an economy that is knowledge-rich, highly innovative, highly skilled and high quality but with low tax and smart regulation.
“So let me say this bit very clearly. “Whatever your business, investing in a post-Brexit Britain will give you the lowest rate of Corporation Tax in the G20.
“You will access service industries and a financial centre in London that are the envy of the world, the best Universities, strong institutions, a sound approach to public finance and a consistent and dependable approach to high standards but intelligent regulation.”
The Prime Minister is right to promise that post-Brexit Britain will be resolutely pro-business.
But reality needs to match rhetoric.
Our tax burden under this Tory government is currently as high as it was under Labour’s Harold Wilson.
Ordinary Brits are pummelled in their pay packet and at the petrol pump.
Our high street is battered by bruising business rates.
And all this before they put up taxes to pay for a promised NHS cash injection, even if nobody knows where that money will be spent yet.
If the Chancellor puts up fuel duty, as rumours suggest, he’ll turn the “just about managings” into “no longer managings”.
The PM and Chancellor must grasp the nettle on creating a genuinely vibrant, dynamic economy.
The best response to the swivel-eyed lunacy of John McDonnell’s Marxism is a growing economy with rising living standards.
That means laying out a real plan for a low-tax, free-market Britain.
It might focus minds in Brussels, too.
