Tax

I believe in lower and simpler tax - it’s too high and too complicated. There is a part of me that still favours some of the work around flat taxes, but it is clear that neither the economic climate, nor the maturity of our own tax system, makes this the right time for such fundamental change. Of course, given the mess that Brown and Labour have made of the economy the scope for tax reductions is going to be very limited over the coming few years.

Council Tax, National Insurance, Inheritance Tax, Income Tax, and the raid on Pensions are all areas for urgent review together. We need to rebalance our tax system in a fair manner and start a review from the bottom up.

And, as part of this overall review, let’s sweep away those ludicrous Gordon Brown tax credits that has put so many low paid families into precarious state dependency. Over £3bn has had to be written off because over half of those receiving tax credits got into arrears when the revenue demanded repayment - this is not a socially just system.