Some wealthier counties, including those containing the seats of Liz Truss and her deputy, are earmarked for “investment zones,” where billions will be handed over to businesses to encourage them to invest and grow. But Labor is questioning the way the list of proposed zones was drawn up – a policy described as “levelling in action” by a cabinet minister. It comes as Liz Truss is said to be planning more tax cuts in the new year, with moves to further cut income tax as well as savings for child benefit claimants, The Telegraph reports. The proposals could see people earning more than £100,000 tax-free personal income tax, scrapping charges for workers earning more than £50,000 and claiming child benefit and overhauling the tax paid on pensions above £1m pounds. The news came as Friday’s dramatic tax budget was branded a “southern comfort” package by think tank the Resolution Foundation, sparking protests that the plans announced by Mr Kwarteng are unfair and reckless. According to analysis carried out by the foundation, households in London and the South East would benefit by around £1,600 – more than three times the amount that households in Wales, the North East and Yorkshire benefit from. Sir Keir Starmer criticized the risks being taken in the Budget as he arrived at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, saying: “The Tory financial casinos are betting the mortgages and finances of every family in the country.” The CBI also hit out at the government for its assumption that tax cuts alone would “suddenly unlock growth” and called for a “broad-based plan” to turn around the economy, including measures aimed at boosting skills. The investment zones will offer generous relief from business rates, stamp duty and capital allowance, as well as zero employer national insurance contributions, in a bid to kick-start stagnant investment. But the proposed areas include Norfolk – home to the Prime Minister’s constituency – and her deputy Therese Coffey’s home base of Suffolk, as well as leafy Bedfordshire, Cheshire, North Yorkshire and Greater London. “The government has chosen to put many of these investment zones in affluent areas of the country,” said Lisa Nandy, the tier’s shadow secretary. “If businesses there don’t pay taxes, businesses everywhere else will have to bear the brunt. That’s a big ask for small businesses struggling with energy costs and business rates right now.” Investment zones have already been dismissed as a revival of George Osborne’s ‘enterprise zones’, a failed policy that ended up creating few new jobs over the past decade. Analysis by the cities think tank of Osborne-era zones found they had created fewer than 14,000 jobs – not the 54,000 forecast – of which more than a third had been displaced elsewhere. The Government’s proposed ‘investment zones’ have been described as ‘levelling in action’ by a Tory minister (AP) This finding was similar to that made by the Treasury watchdog in its inquiry into freeports. Investment zones are an extension of the free ports policy. The chancellor declined to give an estimate of the huge bill for up to 38 investment zones, saying it was “not possible to publish a costing at this stage”. Ms Nandy also attacked the downgrading of planning and environmental controls, as well as affordable housing targets, in the zones as “reckless”. “This country needs a serious growth plan, not more recycled, failed Tory ideas. Investment zones have been tried in the past and have not delivered the new jobs or growth that was promised,” he added. The extensive list of local authorities in ‘early discussions’ with the government also includes Blackpool, Cornwall, Hull, Liverpool, North of Tyne, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley and West Yorkshire. Simon Clarke, the tier secretary, said the investment zones would be “transformational” and deliver “this government’s defining mission: to grow our economy and lift the country up”. He said: “It means spreading opportunities and raising living standards in areas of the country that are full of talent but have been overlooked and undervalued for years. “It’s leveling up in action and leveling up in a conservative way,” he added, using a slogan coined by Boris Johnson’s government – one that Ms Truss seems to shy away from. Chris Philp, the chief secretary to the Treasury, defended the massive tax cuts, insisting: “We will do the right thing. We will achieve growth. And we’re not going to worry about the politics of envy or his perspective.”
