19 January 2023 , 10:23
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Billionaire businessman Sir James Dyson has accused the Government of a "short-sighted" approach to industry.
The vacuum tycoon called on Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to use the spring Budget to "incentivise private innovation and demonstrate its ambition for growth".
The high-profile Brexiteer’s latest intervention comes as the Government pledges to halve inflation by the end of the year to ease the cost-of-living crisis.
Sir James wrote in the Telegraph: "Hard work and sacrifice should be a vote winner, not an electoral liability.
“But growth has become a dirty word and an idea too risky to contemplate. We can turn things around, but only if fast-growing companies are allowed to thrive here.
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Sir James Dyson mounted an attack on the economic policies of Rishi Sunak (Getty Images)“And we will have to act fast - it's a global race and our competitors are hungry.
“The Government has a role to play. Starting with the spring Budget in March, it must incentivise private innovation and demonstrate its ambition for growth."
He claimed it was “stupids” of ministers to “"impose tax upon tax on companies in the belief that penalising the private sector is a free win at the ballot box".
He added: "This is as short-sighted as it is stupid. In the global economy, companies will simply choose to transfer jobs and invest elsewhere.”
It comes amid growing tensions within the Tory party in the wake of Liz Truss's disastrous tax-slashing mini-Budget which trashed the economy and spent mortgage rates spiralling.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was brought in to fix the mess after Ms Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng to save her own skin. He ripped up almost all of the pair's economic policy.
Reports that Mr Hunt is considering a slimmed down Spring Budget, with no tax cuts, triggered fury on the right of the Conservative party.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Mail: 'We have got to get growth going. This Government will sink without trace if we don't get growth going by the middle of this year – we won't have a hope of winning the election.
"We are already over-taxed and it is quite clear we cannot tax ourselves out of a recession."
Right-winger Sir John Redwood also warned tax cuts were essential.
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He added: "We cannot address the issue of growth without some tax cuts. They must be affordable, of course – but the best way to bring borrowing down and boost revenues is to grow the economy."
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