London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Jeremy Hunt says tax cuts will only come ‘when the time is right’

Jeremy Hunt says tax cuts will only come ‘when the time is right’

Jeremy Hunt has signalled tax cuts will only come “when the time is right” and be matched by “spending restraint”, as he sought to temper restive Conservative backbenchers’ expectations ahead of the budget in March.
However, the chancellor said he hoped to inject what he described as much-needed optimism about the country’s future, saying he wanted Britain to “have nothing less than the most competitive tax regime of any major country”.

He initially declined to comment on his own tax affairs, when asked if he had ever had to pay a penalty to HMRC after the Tory chair, Nadhim Zahawi, was reported to have done so.

“I’m not going to talk about my personal tax affairs, but I don’t think there’s anything you’d find interesting to write about,” Hunt told journalists on Friday, adding that people were not “remotely interested in personal tax affairs”.

But he went on to say in an interview shortly after: “For the record I haven’t paid an HMRC fine.”

The confirmation came after a gruelling week for the government, when ministers’ tax affairs have come under increased scrutiny after the investigation launched into Zahawi’s finances.

Zahawi has admitted to making a “careless but not deliberate” error, and not denied suggestions he paid a penalty as part of a roughly £5m settlement for non-payment of capital gains tax due after the sale of shares in YouGov, the polling company he co-founded.

Though the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has permitted the former chancellor to continue serving as Conservative chair while his ethics advisers looks into the issue, several MPs have publicly said he should stand down.

Hunt faced embarrassment when he was health secretary in the coalition government after it emerged the Hotcourses firm he co-founded breached company law and was restructured resulting in a tax saving of about £100,000, and so sought to draw attention back to the government’s pledge to boost the economy on Friday.

In a speech at Bloomberg, the chancellor targeted economic inactivity and urged those who retired early after the Covid pandemic, or struggled to find a new job after the furlough scheme ended, to rejoin the workforce.

“We need you, and we will look at the conditions necessary to make it worth your while,” the chancellor said.

Hunt blamed Britain’s woes on “economic headwinds” that affected many countries, citing favourable growth statistics, and inflation remaining higher in 14 European Union countries. “Declinism about Britain is just wrong,” he said.

However, after pressure from Tory MPs – including the Conservative Growth Group founded by allies of Liz Truss – Hunt stressed that investment would only follow financial stability, and gave little hope that his March budget would reduce the tax burden.

“Confidence in the future starts with honesty about the present,” he said.

Hunt said “we need lower taxes” and that high rates “affect the incentives” of businesses to invest, but stressed that “sound money must come first”.

“Our ambition should be to have nothing less than the most competitive tax regime of every major country,” he said, but that would mean “restraint on spending”.

The creation of “mini-Canary Wharfs” – how Hunt dubbed the plan to reinvent Truss’s low-regulation, low-tax “investment zones” – was promised, with details about where they would be located to be announced “shortly”.

Hunt took aim at Labour, citing Keir Starmer’s pledge not to reopen the big government chequebook. The chancellor claimed the party had since made tens of billions of unfunded spending commitments.

After a cabinet away-day at Chequers, where ministers discussed gloomy polling, Hunt signalled his ambitions would not be realised immediately – paving the way for further announcements in the run-up to the next election about ways to boost growth.

“This is a project that is not going to happen in the next 18 months or the time span before the next election,” Hunt said. However, he still tried to provide hope to glum Tory MPs, adding: “Even in really difficult times, we can make incredible progress.”

Labour said Hunt and Sunak had no plan to fix “13 years of Tory economic failure”.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said: “Britain has so much potential. From creating good, new jobs in the industries of the future, to making our country the best place to start and grow a business, Labour’s proper plan for growth will grasp those opportunities and make our economy stronger to face up to the challenges.

“Thirteen years of Tory economic failure have left living standards and growth on the floor, crashed our economy, and driven up mortgages and bills.

“The Tories have no plan for now, and no plan for the future. It’s time for a Labour government that will build a better Britain.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×