Tory MPs cheer Hunt as he announces new £9 billion corporation tax cut

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Jeremy Hunt has resisted pressure from the Conservative backbenchers to cancel his planned 6p rise in Corporation Tax but has brought in a new £9 billion tax break to incentivise investment.

Tory MPs had been pressing him and the Prime Minister to cancel the hike which was first proposed by Rishi Sunak when he was Boris Johnson’s Chancellor last year.

While Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng cancelled it in her 49-day government, Mr Hunt rapidly reintroduced it to calm the markets.

But the issue had become totemic among Conservative MPs who believed it was stifling growth and could cause a recession.

Astrazenica recently became the latest of many countries to decide to locate its headquarters elsewhere because of the threat of the tax rise.

However, the Chancellor has refused to budge.

Speaking in his Budget today Mr Hunt said: “Even at 19 percent our corporation tax did not incentivise companies at the right level.”

He insisted that the UK would still have the lowest rate in the G7.

And he announced a new scheme which allows companies to take every pound they invest in new equipment and machinary to take off the rate.

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