The Northern Ireland Minister made the comments a day after similar statements by Health Minister Sajid Javid. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said earlier this year that he would cut the key income tax rate from 20p to 19p a pound before the end of the current parliament in 2024, but some Tories would like to see the reduction implemented sooner if possible. Politics Hub: New legislation will ‘fix problems’ with Northern Ireland Protocol Mr Lewis told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he believed “lower taxation is good”, but said he would not “prejudge the difficult and complicated fiscal decisions the chancellor has to make”. He said Mr Sunak and Boris Johnson had already made it clear that “as soon as the financial situation allows … we want to see tax cuts and the chancellor wants to bring in tax cuts so that more people have more money in their pockets to spend.” as they know they can spend better. “ Speaking to the BBC later, and pressing whether he would like the cut to be made sooner than currently planned, he said: “I would only like it to appear when we can afford it.” It comes a day after an interview with the Times in which Mr Javid said: “I know him [Sunak] will want to reduce taxes as soon as possible. “And if that can be promoted, of course, it should be promoted.” He told the newspaper that the “best way” to finance public services is to have a “dynamic low-tax economy that creates growth”. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 16:39 says tax “must be reduced” Hokey-cokey tax cut “I’m a low-tax Tory – that’s one of the reasons I’m a Conservative and I want to see a small state focus on delivering the things that really matter. And I want to see taxes as low as possible,” he said. Javid. Labor’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC that her party would scrap the recent increase in government’s national security “right now” if it were in government, instead of focusing on income tax cuts. He said: “The government has this kind of hockey-hockey where it increases national insurance, but says it will reduce income tax. “National insurance is a tax only on the income you receive when you go to work, which is why it is such a harmful tax increase right in the middle of a cost of living crisis.” Members must “grow up” Last week, in a speech seen as an attempt to restore his prime ministership after a sad vote of confidence, the prime minister said he wanted to reduce the “diversion” of current high taxes caused by the “COVID fiscal meteorite”. “The overall burden of taxation is now very high,” Johnson said. “And sooner or later, and I would rather it was sooner rather than later, that weight should go down.” However, a report in the Sunday Telegraph said there were divisions at the top of the government over the approach, with Mr Sunak refusing to cut taxes unless the prime minister identified spending he was willing to cut to fund such a move. The newspaper quoted a source close to Mr Johnson as saying in response to calls for immediate tax cuts that lawmakers should “grow up” and stop behaving as if they were in “kindergarten”.
