The Conservatives will aim to cut at last one tax every year if they return to Government, Andrew Griffith vowed today as he set out his plans for a lean, prosperous Britain. 

The shadow chancellor set his sights on waking the country from Andy Burnham’s ‘socialist fever dream of the 1970s’ as he addressed the party faithful in Birmingham. 

Mr Griffith, who was promoted to the top financial post less than two months ago, said he would seek to emulate Margaret Thatcher’s Chancellor Nigel Lawson by cutting a tax in every Budget.

He also vowed to slash Net Zero and axe quangos in a red meat speech to the party conference.

Unveiling ‘the biggest deregulation project in a generation’ to kickstart the sluggish economy and cut prices, he said: ‘I didn’t come here to raise taxes – I came to lower them.

‘No country in history has ever taxed its way to prosperity, so we will cut taxes, but only when we can afford to do so, and always saying clearly how we will fund that within our golden economic rule.’

He added: ‘Like Nigel Lawson, it’s my ambition to scrap at least one tax every Budget. What would we prioritise? There’s a lot.

Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith is unveiling ‘the biggest deregulation project in a generation’ to kickstart the sluggish economy and cut prices

Kemi Badenoch has warned Tories at their conference in Birmingham that they must be ready for the PM to trigger a snap election

‘Tax cuts that help growth, tax cuts that improve incentives to work, tax cuts that make life simpler and fairer.’

The bold Thatcherite platform was sold as the answer to Andy Burnham’s statist plan unveiled at the Labour conference in Liverpool last week that includes nationalisation and bigger roles for trade unions.

‘Watching Andy Burnham last week in Liverpool, I was quite shocked,’ the shadow Chancellor said.

‘Daydreaming about the 2030s whilst fuel prices and the cost of mortgages soar today, a Prime Minister that wants to return Britain to an imagined past, his socialist fever dream of the 1970s.’

He vowed to scrap the high value council tax surcharge, known as the ‘mansion tax’, warning that the Prime Minister was recruiting an ‘army of snoopers… to see if you’ve a particularly well-kept garden’.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has warned her party at their conference in Birmingham that they must be ready for the PM to trigger a snap election.

She is trying to build on a fledgling revival for the party, with Reform seemingly struggling to maintain momentum. 

Mrs Badenoch has promised to emulate 1980s Conservative doyenne Margaret Thatcher by returning to government on Right-wing principles – saying the lack of a fundamental world-view has meant Britain being buffeted by events. 

Mr Griffith argued that slashing red tape and environmental rules could cut the price of a new house by up to £50,000.  

The proposals include abolishing the Environment Agency and Natural England to help streamline regulations acting as ‘a drag anchor on our economy’.

Labour’s new ‘grocery tax’ on packaging would also be ditched, removing a £1.5billion levy on business and consumers.

The Conservatives will also formally throw their weight behind plans for a third runway at Heathrow, which have been cast into doubt yet again after Mr Burnham defied his own Chancellor by refusing to back them.

‘These are serious proposals to get our country moving, growing again,’ Mr Griffith told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme before his speech.

The bold Thatcherite platform is being billed as the answer to Andy Burnham’s ‘socialist fever dream of the 1970s’

Mrs Badenoch is trying to build on a fledgling revival for the party, with Reform seemingly struggling to maintain momentum