Truss: My Tax Breaks Will Boost Britain

Leadership favourite pledges to end Whitehall's grip on Britain's future

- Macer Hall

Tory frontrunner Liz Truss will today reveal plans to “turbocharge” economic growth by building a string of Lowtax new towns.

The Foreign Secretary envisages high-tech but low-regulation investment areas where businesses can flourish, emulating the success of Enterprise Zones under Margaret Thatcher.

She will also insist that every part of Britain should benefit from having one of the investment hotspots, rather than leaving it to London bureaucrats to nominate the development sites.

Winners

Ms Truss declared last night that ministers would work in close partnership with local authorities to identify and develop brownfield locations, adding: “We can’t carry on allowing Whitehall to pick the winners and losers.

“As Prime Minister, I will be laser-focused on turbocharging business investment and delivering the economic growth our country desperately needs.”

In a major strategy announcement on her campaign to succeed Boris Johnson in No 10, she will today argue that her bold blueprint will unleash the country’s post-Brexit potential by driving growth and innovation.

Allies of rival Rishi Sunak last night accused her of dressing up the former Chancellor’s flagship policy on freeports – but backers of Ms Truss say she intends to go much further, sweeping away planning rules and red tape.

She said: “By creating these new Investment Zones we will finally prove to businesses that we’re committed to their futures and incentivise them to stimulate the investment that will help deliver for hardworking people.”