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Philip Hammond is...

Sunday, 16th March 2008

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I'll leave the issue of whether or not it is wise for the Conservatives to say there would be no tax cuts until a second term.

Whatever the merits of his case, Philip Hammond, the shadow Chief Secretary, is talking boll***s when he says this, praying Baroness Thatcher in aid:

We often hear talk about getting back to Thatcher-style cuts. Thatcher waited until she could see that she had stabilised the situation before she started to reduce taxes.
That is complete nonsense. Lord Howe's 1979 Budget reduced the basic rate of income tax by 3p, to 30p. And he cut the top rate to 60p from 83p. Yes, he put VAT up to 15 per cent, but income taxes were cut within weeks of coming to power.

UPDATE: Ben Brogan makes the same point about income tax.

UPDATE: People have rightly taken me to task for my original final sentence . I wrote that "overall taxes were cut within weeks". They weren't; it was income tax which was cut, not the tax burden. I have corrected the post but apologies for the mistake.

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