Truss to challenge Sunak with alternative budget as she rails against ‘conventional thinking’

Liz Truss is to challenge Rishi Sunak’s government with a so-called alternative budget.

It will come a year after Truss delivered the “mini-budget” which preceded her downfall as prime minister.

The Growth Commission, the body set up by the former prime minister, is set to release a report one week before chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivers his autumn statement on November 22.

It is being called the “Growth Budget” and is expected to propose policy on a range of areas, including, corporation tax, income tax and national insurance.

It is reported to recommend an end to the “tourism tax” by bringing back VAT-free shopping.

Other things on the agenda are public sector spending, productivity as well as regulatory reforms.

At the Conservative Party conference this month, Truss called for tax cuts to “make Britain grow again” as she urged the chancellor to cut corporation tax to at least 19 per cent.

Her fringe event also included speeches from three former cabinet ministers including Priti Patel, Jacob Rees Mogg, and Ranil Jayawardena.

Truss told the fringe event in Manchester she wanted to see the Conservative Party become the “party of business again”, and for the government to stop “taxing and banning things” and instead “build things and make things.”

Economic growth would not be delivered by the Treasury or public spending but by “giving businesses the freedom they need to succeed”, she said. 

“We need to acknowledge the government is too big, the taxes are too high. And then we are spending too much”, she added.

According to reports in the Times and the Telegraph, Doug McWilliams, the co-chairman of Truss’ Growth Commission, said: “This report is a detailed challenge to the conventional thinking which has proved unable to rise to the challenge of fixing the UK’s low-growth problem. Our analysis will present clear alternatives for policymakers to consider.”

The other co-chairman Shanker Singham added: “One of the things about the Growth Commission budget is that we are looking at both tax and fiscal policy as well as regulatory policy. We believe that the potential GDP per capita growth that could be unleashed as a result of regulatory reform is much larger than many have imagined.”

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.