Shadow chancellor outlines plans for deregulation and taxation
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has promised a “bonfire” of red tape while setting out Conservative ambitions to reduce taxation and accelerate development, reports BritPanorama.
Under the proposed plans, the party intends to dismantle net zero requirements for residential developments, abolish both Natural England and the Environment Agency, and advance the expansion of Heathrow Airport.
Describing these policy ideas as “the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation,” the Conservatives claimed the package could reduce the average cost of a newly built property by roughly £50,000.
Mr Griffith is due to outline these economic proposals at the Tory annual conference in Birmingham on Monday, as the party aims to rebuild following its historically poor general election loss in 2024.
Addressing broadcasters ahead of his speech, he indicated that a Conservative government’s initial budget would be “tax-cutting,” though he cautioned that certain policies might take longer to deliver.
Mr Griffith also acknowledged that he alongside Tory leader Kemi Badenoch “ultimately” aimed to abolish inheritance tax entirely, provided the party could establish a method to finance the move.
“There’s lots of things that we would like to do, but the job of chancellor is to make sure that those can be paid for,” he told Sky News.
“We’re going to have a very difficult situation. We won’t be able to do everything that we want to do on day one.”
Dismissing suggestions that new pledges, like abolishing the £100,000 earnings threshold for free childcare, amounted to “looking after the rich,” he argued the Tories wanted a “simpler” system for everyone.
“We’re talking about GPs, deputy headmasters, senior police officers, people who are in the armed forces, and this is a terrible cliff edge,” he told LBC.
He told GB News: “Our first budget will be a tax-cutting budget and we will get the country growing again really fast.”
Asked whether new proposals to axe arm’s-length bodies and requirements for new builds were part of a “bonfire of regulations,” the shadow chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that’s a pretty fair summary in all honesty.
“What we’re trying to do is get Britain to be prosperous again. Give people hope that their future’s going to be better.”
Mr Griffith denied the proposals would lead to a “free for all” where local objections to new developments are ignored.
He stated that the plans were about addressing “the agencies, about the complexity, the morass, the spider’s web” rather than “removing any constraints on where people can build.”
To cut the price of a new-build property, the Conservatives plan to discard the future homes standard and housebuilding rules coming into force next year, which will require planners to include low-carbon heating technology such as heat pumps or district heat networks.
Section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy, which can require developers to fund infrastructure including affordable housing in the area where they plan to build, would also be replaced by a single charge in a bid to expedite approvals.
Natural England and the Environment Agency would be dissolved, with their functions transferred to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under the proposals.
Additionally, Mr Griffith proposed to scrap the extended producer responsibility, which was established to have producers shoulder the costs related to packaging waste disposal.
Removing it could alleviate a £1.5 billion burden from businesses, according to Conservative claims.
The shadow chancellor is set to assure the public of plans to “simplify” the tax code, which he described as a “cat’s cradle of complexity.”
Backing a third runway at Heathrow, he plans to differentiate between the Tories’ stance and that of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has so far not endorsed the expansion, citing concerns over prejudicing any planning applications.
“Countries on the rise have the best infrastructure and connectivity to the world, but our national hub airport is being held back. The next Conservative government will do whatever it takes to end the delays and boost capacity by backing the third runway,” Mr Griffith is expected to state.
Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson asserted that the Conservatives aimed to revert to a political landscape that has historically let many down over the past 40 years.
She remarked, “The Tories had 14 years in government to grow our economy and help people get on the housing ladder, but they completely failed at every turn.”
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokeswoman, stated, “No one can take anything the Conservatives say on the economy seriously given their litany of fantasy-land financial pledges.”
Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick accused the Conservatives of “copying our policies,” while also asserting that they cannot match his party’s commitment to raise the personal allowance from £12,570 per year to £15,000.
He claimed this was because the Conservatives “refuse to cut migrant welfare, net zero subsidies and the ballooning benefits bill.”
