INCOME tax cuts and fuel duty relief must be in the next Budget, Red Wall Tories have demanded.
The influential New Conservatives group of MPs have written to Jeremy Hunt with a plan to ease the burden on working families by around £24billion.
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Proposals include slashing the rate of income tax by 1p – as Rishi Sunak promised in 2022 – and raising the 40p higher band from £50,000 to £60,000.
Mostly elected in 2019, the 35-strong caucus believes lowering taxes will present “a clear dividing line with Labour” to help close the gap in the polls.
Leading member Jonathan Gullis said: “By the government accepting these proposals, we will very squarely be saying to the British public – it’s either lower taxes and high growth under the Conservatives or higher taxes and low growth under Labour.”
The overall tax burden has been hiked to the highest point since the Second World War following eye-watering Covid spending and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Chancellor Mr Hunt today said tax cuts might not be “affordable” and that it was too early to say ahead of the March 6 Budget.
But the MPs want him to map out a path to cut income rates by a further 4p by 2029 to show the party is serious about being low tax.
Their “Budget For Families” document also presses Mr Hunt to keep the 5p cut to fuel duty and extend the rate freeze into a 14th straight year.
Mr Gullis said The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign – which has successfully kept the petrol levy frozen since 2011 – has been “essential for families” going about their lives.
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Other proposals are raising the VAT registration threshold from £85,000 to £250,000 to help small business “unlock their full potential”.
NEW CONSERVATIVES BUDGET PROPOSALS
WHAT are the New Conservatives group proposing?
1p cut to the basic rate of income tax – £5.2bn
Increasing the 40p threshold to £60,000 – £7.8bn
Scrap the High Income Child Benefit Charge – £1.6bn
5p cut to fuel duty & keep freeze on inflation – £4.1bn
Raise VAT registration threshold to £250,000 – £3bn
Abolishing IR35 reforms – £2bn
And they want to abolish IR35 reforms which means firms can designate contractors as employees rather than self-employed, to the contractors’ despair.
The last demand is scrapping the high income child benefit charge, where parents pay a levy if they earn over £50,000 despite many still struggling with the cost of care.
The group’s analysis says the total cost is £23.7billion, which they say can be paid for with £20billion of headroom plus potential public sector productivity gains.
Unlike fellow Tory backbenchers, they have noticeably not called for cuts to inheritance tax at the March 6 Budget, with Mr Gullis saying it should not be prioritised for the “here and now”.
He said Mr Hunt would do better to help the “squeezed middle” who have been clobbered by higher taxes through stealth raids.
He added: “What we’re proposing helps hardworking families, helps the motorist and helps those amazing, independent family run businesses, who are the backbone of our economy.”
