The leader of the Liberal Democrats promised to ease the cost of living crisis with a slew of tax changes at his party’s annual conference in Brighton
Sir Ed Davey has promised to introduce a slew of cost-of-living busting measures — that will put £580 back in the pockets of many working Brits.
If the Lib Dems win the next election, they plan to adjust the tax system gradually over the next parliament. The 40% Higher Rate tax band will begin at £56,000 instead of £50,271 while the tax free personal allowance will increase from £12,570 to £15,000, under the Lib Dems tax cuts.
The party estimates 760,000 Brits will be taken out of the 40% Higher rate band and 2.5 million of the lowest-paid workers will pay no income tax at all. The tax cuts are estimated to cost £17 billion in year five, according to figures from the House of Commons Library.
The Lib Dems plan to pay the bill with the growth achieved by re-joining the EU’s single market and customs union, which they estimate will bring in £27 billion in the last year of the next parliament.
The number of workers hit by the 40% Higher Rate tax has skyrocketed from two million to nine million over the past three decades, the party argues.
Sir Ed Davey told the conference the tax band “designed for stockbrokers is now holding back teachers and nurses” and dragging down family finances and crippling Britain’s economy.
The Lib Dems boss also took aim at the “thugs” marching in Dover and Portsmouth. “Something big and dangerous is happening in our country,” he said.
“Hundreds of thugs, in black shirts and balaclavas, are marching on our streets. First Dover. Then Portsmouth.
“Their aim? To intimidate. To spread fear. To stoke racism. They may call themselves patriots, but they would tear our country apart.
“We must not let them.”
He added: “Every generation, we have these men, who pretend to be patriots. Who claim to speak for ‘real Britain’.
“And every generation, the real Britain refuses to accept it. But something feels different this time.
“Because the blackshirts marching today aren’t doing it in isolation. They are just the most visible part of a far-right threat that is extremely well-funded.
“That extends well beyond the shores of our United Kingdom.”