Labour will not cut personal taxes for millions until the economy starts to grow more strongly, the Shadow Business Secretary has warned.
Despite setting a cap on corporation tax of 25 per cent for the first five years of a Labour government, Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that any cuts in personal taxes would have to wait until the economy was showing strong growth.
According to the International Monetary Fund the UK will grow by just 0.6 per cent this year and 1.6 per cent next year.
Mr Reynolds told GB News: “Taxes are high by historic levels, and people aren't getting great public services as a result of that...
Jonathan Reynolds said that any cuts in personal taxes would have to wait
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“Why are people paying high taxes for poor services? Because the economy hasn't grown.
"So I would love to be able to tell you that people will be paying less tax; I'd love to be able to give you assurances on any aspect of the tax system.”
But he added: “I can't because until the economy grows more strongly.
"People need to understand, compared to the history of the UK, the last decade and a half has been really quite slow, very low productivity, very low business investment.
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Jonathan Reynolds is Shadow Business Secretary
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“Different spurts of growth but nothing like the kind of significance we would usually expect around that and that's why everything we're talking about today, planning reform, changing the apprenticeship Levy, making the deal with European Union work better from a trading perspective, having a new deal for working people, the green prosperity plan versus public investment.
“This is all about the economy growing more strongly, and hopefully giving people better services, better wages, and hopefully reducing those burdens and time on them.”
