LONDON – Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is leading the race to become Britain’s next prime minister, with two opinion polls putting her well ahead of former finance minister Rishi Sunak.
Below are details of the policies has Truss proposed during the leadership contest.
TAX
– Hold an emergency budget and review of government spending
– Reverse a 1.25 percentage point rise in payroll tax known as National Insurance. The rise was introduced by Sunak in April to help pay for the health and social care system.
– Cancel a planned increase in corporation tax. The tax is due to rise from 19% to 25% from 2023 under plans announced by Sunak in March 2021
– Apply a temporary moratorium on environmental and social levies added to consumers’ electricity bills
– Not impose any new levies on unhealthy food and ditch plans to restrict multi-buy deals on food and drink high in fat, salt, or sugar
– Review the way families are treated by tax authorities, with a view to easing the tax burden when family members are not working in order to care for children or relatives
ECONOMY AND DOMESTIC
– Review the Bank of England’s mandate without compromising its independence
– Create low regulation “investment zones”
– Introduce minimum service levels on critical national infrastructure and raise ballot thresholds to limit strike action
– Reform mortgage assessments to help those currently renting gain access to the housing market
– Scrap home-building targets, incentivise local authorities to build more houses and speed up the planning system
– Review how Britain will reach its 2050 net zero target to see how it can be done in a more “market-friendly” way
– No new Scottish independence referendum.
– A six point education reform package, including measures to cut childcare costs
– Temporarily expand seasonal workers scheme to ensure farmers have access to labour
– Tackle violence against women and girls including criminalising street harassment
INTERNATIONAL
– Increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030
– Make Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelenskiy the first foreign leader she calls as prime minister, and work with G7 allies to provide more lethal and humanitarian aid for Kyiv
– Commit Britain to a lead role in a “new Marshall Plan” for Ukraine
– Update Britain’s foreign policy to include new focus on China and Russia
– Seek a trade deal among Commonwealth members to act as a bulwark against China
– Scrap all remaining European Union laws that still apply in Britain by 2023, including Solvency II regulation and seek regulatory divergence from the EU
– Pursue more third country immigration processing partnership schemes, similar to the existing agreement to send some migrants to Rwanda.
(Reporting by William James and Kylie MacLellan, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
