Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said he hopes to scrap at least one tax every budget if the Conservatives return to power, with the so-called “mansion tax” in his sights.
Speaking at the party’s conference in Birmingham, Griffith said “lower, simpler and fairer taxes” would be his “personal north star” although he noted his ambition for cuts would take place “only when we can afford to do so”.
He also said he would scrap the High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS), which takes effect from 2028 and introduces an extra levy for owners of properties in England valued at more than £2m.
Labour said the Tories “completely failed at every turn” to grow the economy during their 14 years in power.
Following their historic defeat in the 2024 general election, the Conservatives have been trying to rebuild and convince voters that they can be trusted again.
The Tories have faced repeated attacks from their opponents for their record in government between 2010 and 2024.
Speaking on the main stage, Griffith said: “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.”
The party’s “golden economic rule” involves at least half of all savings identified going towards “deficit reduction, with the other half going to tax cuts and pro-growth measures”.
Griffith likened his approach to that of former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson, adding: “It’s my ambition to scrap at least one tax every budget. What would we prioritise? There’s a lot.
“Tax cuts that help growth, tax cuts that improve incentives to work, tax cuts that make life simpler and fairer.”
The Extended Packaging Responsibility (EPR) scheme, which requires firms to cover the cost of collecting, recycling and disposing of packaging it produces, would be scrapped by the Conservatives.
Griffith sought to signal a different approach under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, telling members that the EPR was the “sort of thing the old Conservative Party went along with”.
He also said Labour plans a “vindicative raid on family homes” in the form of the HVCTS, also dubbed the “mansion tax”, which he would seek to scrap.
The shadow chancellor said: “It’s an anti-growth tax that will distort the housing market and remove the incentive to make home improvements.”
Ahead of his speech, Griffith was pressed on BBC Breakfast on whether he would keep the pensions triple lock, which Prime Minister Andy Burnham has proposed changing.
Griffith said: “We are going to keep it.”
In 2021, then-backbencher Griffith wrote an article saying that the state pension triple lock was “unfair” as pensioners could “gain from the misfortune of others”.
Senior Conservatives including former chancellor Jeremy Hunt and shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat have individually suggested the current triple lock is unsustainable.