Gordon Brown has predicted Boris Johnson will abandon a planned hike in corporation tax in the autumn, as he hit out at a government lurching from “crisis to crisis”.
Issuing a warning about the potential for a “global recession”, the former Labour prime minister urged Mr Johnson to gather world leaders to establish a plan to tackle issues on food supply and inflation.
Speaking after the Bank of England forecast inflation to reach 11 per cent in the autumn, Mr Brown also demanded ministers present a “fourth Budget” to parliament in 2022 to ease poverty and inflationary pressures.
“There is no plan, there is no programme of action,” he claimed. “The government is going from crisis to crisis and scandal to scandal, we cannot see a way out of this, we will have pain now and pain later.
“What we need is minimising pain now and maximising gain later.”
Pressed on BBC’s Sunday Morning whether tax cuts are a way out of the crisis, Mr Brown replied: “I suspect that what the government will have to do in the autumn is abandon their corporate tax rise.
“I suspect they’ll not be able to go ahead with their fuel tax rise because that’s another pressure on inflation.”
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, announced last year corporation tax would rise to 25 per cent from April 2023 – from a current rate of 19 per cent. However, there have been reports of a clash between the prime minister and the chancellor on the issue.
Mr Brown said: “But what you need to do is look at a fair set of answers. The first thing they’ve go to do, I’ll be honest about this, I’m shocked by the fact so many families and children are going to be forced into poverty during this winter.”
He said despite the chancellor’s interventions earlier this month, including one-off payments to those on benefits, millions of families will be in poverty.
Mr Brown, who was prime minister during the global financial crash in 2008, said Mr Johnson really “ought to be getting world leaders and they should concoct a plan” to bring down oil prices, get food supply running around the world, and control inflation.
“We’ve got protectionism, we’ve got war in Europe, we’ve got a form of jingoism and nationalism in different countries pursuing their own selfish interests, and we’re in danger of having a global recession.”
The former PM’s comments also come as thousands of protesters marched in central London calling for further government action to ease the cost of living crisis and a “decent pay rise” for public sector workers.
