06 Feb Government will cut taxes once inflation eases, says minister
THE Government will look to cut taxes when inflation starts to come down, Health Minister Maria Caulfield has said.
She told GB News: “As Conservatives, we’re all wanting to see people keep more of the money they earn through low taxation.
“The biggest enemy to every household at the moment is inflation and whether you get a 5% pay rise or a 10% pay rise that’s completely swallowed up at the moment by inflation and inflation-busting pay rises will not fix that.
“We have to get inflation down. It’s one of the PMs top priorities to have that, just as Margaret Thatcher did when she came into government.
“And once we get inflation down, we can absolutely look at reducing tax further.”
Ms Caulfield also called for the Royal College of Nursing to call off the strikes: “My disappointment with the RCN this morning is that in Scotland, they’ve called off the strikes because they’re prepared to talk about this year’s pay rise, which starts from April, and we are in exactly the same boat.
“We are very happy the Secretary of State has been discussing this year’s pay award and working conditions with them but they’ve called off the strikes in Scotland but not in England.
“So my plea to the RCN is we’re very happy to discuss this year’s pay award and we’d really value them calling off the strikes and getting back around the table.”
She added: “We’re obviously very disappointed that the strike action is going ahead but to reassure patients in England where we are responsible for health care, it is less than half of the NHS Trusts for the nursing strike.
“So for most patients, they’ll be unaffected. They’ve got appointments and procedures today, but obviously, we also have the ambulance strikes on top of that, which will also add pressure to NHS services today.”
Asked if she thought lives would be put at risk, she said: “I think it’s going to be very difficult. Obviously, we’ve put in as much preparation as possible working with NHS trusts, again, to minimise disruption to patients, and to make sure that for urgent and emergency care that there are backup services in place, but obviously, anytime there’s disruption to NHS services, it does have an impact on patients, particularly with ongoing strikes.”
She added: “I’m an RCN member myself as well so I sit in both camps…I have a lot of sympathy but we also have a responsibility to the taxpayer.
“We’ve followed an independent process with a pay review body that the union signed up to and were very happy with the settlement last year. And it’s difficult for us now, if we are to give a pay rise to nurses, we’ll have to look at teachers, we’ll have to look at ambulance drivers.
“We just can’t afford inflation busting pay rises that the unions are currently demanding.”
