DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Cut business taxes or a recession WILL come

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Cut business taxes or a recession WILL come

Despite endless predictions that we are hurtling into recession – and the best efforts of hard-Left trade unions to put us there – Britain has defied the prophets of doom.

True, flatlining growth for the last quarter of 2022 announced yesterday is hardly a cause for national rejoicing. But neither does it signify a nation on the edge of bankruptcy.

Within those figures, it was the strike-bound public and transport sectors which performed worst, notably health and education services, which contracted by 2.8 and 2.6 per cent respectively.

For pubs and restaurants, however, card receipts were back above pre-pandemic levels – hard evidence that not everyone in this country is on the breadline. Indeed, the Office for National Statistics confirmed that UK growth outpaced that of all other G7 countries last year.

However, it would be foolish to deny that the economy remains on a knife-edge. Without strong government action, it may yet slip into recession.

Jeremy Hunt has promised to bring down taxes, but when will the Chancellor of the Exchequer do this?

Pharmaceutical and biotech giant AstraZeneca’s decision to switch construction of a new £330million manufacturing hub from Cheshire to Ireland is a bitter blow.

The firm blamed high taxes (UK corporation tax is soon to soar to 25 per cent, compared with 15 in Ireland), excessive regulation and poor investment incentives – all of which are in the Chancellor’s gift to change.

The Mail welcomes Jeremy Hunt’s promise to bring down taxes, but when? Unless he starts soon, a tipping point will be reached and many more big companies will desert these shores for more liberal and far-sighted fiscal regimes.

Courage of Tatchell

No one could accuse Peter Tatchell of having opted for the quiet life. Once described as the most vilified gay public figure since Oscar Wilde, he has made a career out of fighting injustice and confronting bigotry, heedless of his own safety.

He twice tried to effect a citizen’s arrest on the vile Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, was badly beaten by Russian homophobes for joining a Pride march in Moscow and more recently has stoutly defended the rights of feminists being cancelled by trans-extremists.

It’s hard to imagine a more courageous champion of gay rights – or indeed any human rights. Yet while he may be approaching national treasure status now, he recalls with brutal clarity in today’s Mail how 40 years ago he was a hate figure – routinely abused and spat at in the street.

The Mail says for his ‘dauntless and unwavering fight to make Britaina more tolerant, compassionate and just society, Peter Tatchell is one of the great paladins of our times’

During the toxic Bermondsey by-election campaign of 1983, in which he stood as Labour candidate, his sexuality and strident far-Left views led to him being reviled on all sides of the political spectrum – not least within his own party.

How far this country has moved on since then. Most of the gay rights Mr Tatchell campaigned on have been achieved and homosexuality is no longer any barrier to high office. Indeed, the man widely tipped to be the next Labour leader, Wes Streeting, is openly and proudly gay.

For his dauntless and unwavering fight to make Britain a more tolerant, compassionate and just society, Peter Tatchell is one of the great paladins of our times.

It’s surely time for his immense contribution to be recognised with a knighthood or peerage. Among the legions of second-raters and placemen in the House of Lords, he would truly stand out as a beacon of moral courage.

• Foreign health tourists have racked up a staggering £219million in unpaid NHS bills, many having come here with the specific intention of obtaining treatment or care. With 7million patients on waiting lists and hospitals crying out for cash, isn’t it time to demand payment up front?

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