Argentinians withdrawing from a Cooperation Agreement over the Falkland Islands, the foreign secretary has announced a visit to the overseas territory in solidarity. But another overseas territory is under attack too , territory is under attack too, too. Britain is set to hand over the Chagos Islands to an ally of the Chagos Islands to an ally of the Chinese Communist ists amidst a contentious un court ruling. State of the nation starts now. Starts now. To defiantly holding the state of the nation flabellum tonight is britains longest ever serving political editor. Now proudly gb news senior commentator , the great nigel commentator, the great nigel nelson. As always , i want to nelson. As always, i want to hear from you. Its a crucial part of the programme. Email me mail mog at gbnews. Com. But now thats what weve been waiting for news day with for the news of the day with polly middlehurst. Jacob thank you and good evening to you. Well, the top story tonight from the newsroom is that the Greater Manchester mayor axing the northern mayor says axing the northern leg two would be the leg of hs2 two would be the desperate act of a dying government. That as a number 10 government. That as a number 10 source told gb news earlier today that no decisions have as yet been taken. Andy burnham has called on the Prime Minister to end the shambles on hs2 following increased speculation about the rail projects future. A number of government ministers have also called for the project to be reviewed due to spiralling costs as well. The chancellor, jeremy hunt, says it shouldnt cost ten times more to build a railway in the uk than just across the channel in france. And the chancellor has france. And the chancellor has also announced plans to freeze the expansion of the Civil Service and reduce its numbers to pre pandemic levels. During his speech at the conservative Party Conference in manchester today , jeremy hunt said it would today, jeremy hunt said it would save the government £1 billion next year. Meanwhile he announced tougher benefits, sanctions on those who are capable of working but choose not to. And a National Living wage rise to £11 an hour. Wage rise to £11 an hour. We promised in our manifesto to raise the National Living wage to two thirds of Median Income and ending low pay in this country. At the moment, this country. At the moment, its £10. 42 an hour and were waiting for the low Pay Commission to tell us next Years Commission to tell us next years recommendation. But i years recommendation. But i confirm today what ever that recommendation will increase the National Living wage to at least £11 an hour next year. Thats a pay £11 an hour next year. Thats a pay rise for 2 million workers in what liz truss called on the chancellor to cut Corporation Tax back to 19 from 25 in its next autumn. Statement. Speaking at a statement. Speaking at a fringe rally today in manchester, the former Prime Minister urged the tory leadership to axe the tax cut bills and build homes. Her comments come after jeremy hunt told gb news no substantial tax cuts were possible this year. Cuts were possible this year. But ms truss said businesses are now choosing not to locate in the uk and they shouldnt be treated like a cash cow. A treated like a cash cow. A Second Police force is investigating allegations against the comedian russell brand. In a statement, Thames Valley police said its received new information relating to harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018. They added it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation. It ongoing investigation. It follows a joint investigation by the sunday times and channel 4. Russell brand himself denies all accusations of criminal city. Accusations of criminal city. And lastly, Junior Doctors and consultants were on strike today in a three day walkout, the longest ever period of joint strike action until thursday morning at 7 00. Theyll deliver whats being described as a Christmas Day level of staffing. Their last joint strike in september led to almost 130,000 appointments, having to be rescheduled. And the government rescheduled. And the government says the walkout is doing a massive disservice to patients. Massive disservice to patients. Thats the latest news. This is gb news across the uk on tv, in your car, on Digital Radio and on your Smart Speaker by saying play on your Smart Speaker by saying play gb news. This is britains news channel. News channel. Well, welcome to the tory Party Conference. Im sitting here in one of the main halls. Theres still a hubbub going on of excitement of all the discussions that have been taking place today. The most taking place today. The most important one is about growth and how do you make our economy grow . Because weve been falling behind the United States and countries that have been leading the pack. Yes weve been ahead of sclerotic germany and france, but weve been falling behind the more dynamic nations. And this matters because if we have Economic Growth , we all become Economic Growth, we all become better off and we allow people to achieve their natural human ambition of ensuring that their children and their grandchildren are more prosperous than they are. And there are various aspects of this. Theres the tax aspects of this. Theres the tax aspect and theres the regulation aspect. And within the regulation aspect, theres all the discussion to have about green regulations. But lets focus on tax because thats where liz truss , the former where liz truss, the former Prime Minister, made most of an impact earlier on today, and she really stated a conservative case, a case that jeremy hunt would not disagree with. But of course, you cant expect a chancellor to announce tax cuts anywhere other than in the house of commons. So it may be that better news will come from him. Better news will come from him. Wait and see. Hold your breath. Wait and see. Hold your breath. But lets talk about the rationale for tax cuts and for a more efficient tax system, because because there are efficient and in office ancient taxes. What does the government aim to do . Well, it has to raise money from taxpayers to pay for pubuc money from taxpayers to pay for public services. Defence of the realm, the police, welfare, pensions and the health service. In a way that is the least economically damaging. And some taxes are more economically damaging than others. Income tax and vat or sales taxes. These and vat or sales taxes. These are efficient, pretty much seamless taxes because theyre paid from things that have to happen. You have to be paid unless tax is so high, you become a volunteer here. And the money that is taken by the state is taken at a point at which you receive it. So you dont have to do anything else other than allow the transaction take place. Capital tax is a much less efficient because you dont need to sell an asset and therefore Capital Gains tax is voluntary. You dont need to move house. So stamp duty tends to be voluntary death duties. Oddly are also voluntary because there is not you cant choose, not to die. I mean, im aware of that, but they are basically voluntary because there are ways of organising your affairs so that you dont pay them. These taxes are very inefficient ant and bear down on Economic Growth and bear down on Economic Growth andits and bear down on Economic Growth and its why theyre the ones that should be at the forefront of reform. Um, why are death of reform. Um, why are death duties so inefficient . Ant well, duties so inefficient . Ant well, they encourage to distort they encourage people to distort they encourage people to distort the allocation of capital and the allocation of capital and the allocation of Capital Investment is what leads to Economic Growth. But youre discouraged from investing in the stock market and encouraged to invest in farmland. And to invest in farmland. And because of death duties , this is because of death duties, this is extremely inefficient and stops the economy from , um, growing. The economy from, um, growing. But our whole tax system has become sclerotic and complex because the government wants people to do things it thinks are good rather than allowing people to choose for themselves. But you, ladies and gentlemen , understand that you make better choices for yourself than i can for you , or that ministers i can for you, or that ministers can for you. So you want to can for you. So you want to restore personal choice by having lower taxes and a more efficient tax system. And that means doing what Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s. What did he do . He cut the tax rates, but simultaneously cut out exemptions. Those things you could use to write off taxes because that encouraged people to just earn as much as they could and then pay a fair level of tax applies to Corporation Tax, particularly where complex right offs make the system more difficult and unwieldy to use this simple tax low tax, economically efficient taxes is actually is what will pay for pubuc actually is what will pay for public services. Thats what liz truss and i were talking about it earlier. As always, i want to hear from you. Dont forget to let me know your thoughts on, you know, the email by now. Mail morgue gbnews. Com with me to morgue at gbnews. Com with me to discuss these intricate matters, im joined by gb News Business and economics editor Liam Halligan and our mighty flabella mulder gb news, senior political commentator nigel nelson. Nigel commentator nigel nelson. Nigel isnt it sensible all to get a tax system that actually has lower rates and fewer write offs because we know from experience that that raises more money and has lower Economic Impact . Yes. Well, i agree with you. Is its absolutely right to try and take some of the complexities out of the tax system. Thats fine. Where i system. Thats fine. Where i dont agree with you is that we should be cutting taxes now. I should be cutting taxes now. I mean , two reasons for this. Mean, two reasons for this. Firstly, that i agree with jeremy hunt that inflation has got to be got under control before we actually get rid of. We start lowering taxes. I dont agree with jeremy hunt that a 5 de increase in inflation is somehow a five pee in the pound boost to the income. If we had zero inflation at the moment, that food has still got up 25 since 2019. Its still that much more expensive. Five but more expensive. Five but certainly get rid of the complexo ities equally , i think complexo ities equally, i think the tory party needs to go back to where it used to be. Tax cuts are an aspiration and suddenly they become an obsession , an they become an obsession, an okay and do you think its a problem for the tory party . And we can have a couple of clips. Liz trusss speech today clips. Liz trusss speech today and the chancellors speech perhaps setting a different tone. Lets hear what liz had to say so lets start with axing the so lets start with axing the tax base. We need to unleash business across britain. We need people to want to invest in our country. We need businesses to be able to export and to grow, to create new jobs, to create new ideas. And thats why im new ideas. And thats why im calling upon the chancellor at the autumn statement to put corporations back tax back down to 19. And frankly , if we can to 19. And frankly, if we can get it lower, the better. Get it lower, the better. And jeremy hunt took a rather different line, which is also worth listening to. No tax cuts are possible in a substantial way at the moment. Way at the moment. So its not just inheritance tax, its income tax. Its all the different taxes that people look at. If we start having big tax cuts , it would be tax cuts, it would be inflationary and when weve got inflationary and when weve got inflation at 6. 7, its come down a lot. But it needs to come down a lot. But it needs to come down a lot. But it needs to come down a lot. But it needs to come down a lot more. And the fastest way a lot more. And the fastest way we help to families who we can give help to families who are finding life really tough is to get inflation right down. And thats the priority of me and the Prime Minister. Nigel is that what chancellors always say when theyre an autumn theyre not doing an autumn statement or a budget, does theyre not doing an autumn stareallyt or a budget, does theyre not doing an autumn sta really mean budget, does theyre not doing an autumn sta really mean it . Iget, does he really mean it . He really means oh, i think he really means it. He is actually hes it. I mean, he is actually hes going a further about going a stage further about taxation. Hes not saying ill tell you about it at the autumn statement or the budget, but what saying is im ruling what hes saying is im ruling them out, which i think is the right thing to do. And the obsession youve got about taxation at the moment. What worries me a bit is its not taking account the things taking into account the things that weve neglected for 50 years. The ageing population, the effect on the nhs of that , the effect on the nhs of that, how weve neglected pensions. So theyre going through the roof, all these things could have been dealt with if politicians had had the courage and werent frightened of the voters some time liam isnt the answer to but liam isnt the answer to all this growth and youre all of this growth and youre not you not going to get growth if you have tax take that have the highest tax take that weve had in 70 years. Well, i must atmosphere at the must say, the atmosphere at the liz meeting, which liz truss fringe meeting, which you chaired , you spoke at, which i chaired, it reminded me of the church scene in the Blues Brothers when people were backflipping down the aisle , there was a real the aisle, there was a real sense of fervour over tory activists there cheering loudly when i pointed out that liz truss was actually elected by activists , whereas rishi sunak activists, whereas rishi sunak wasnt. Wasnt. And i think the reason there is an obsession about tax, i agree with nigel lawson very much because of course the much is because of course the tax take as a share of gdp in this country is at a 70 year high, weve had stealth high, high and weve had stealth taxes. The freezing of thresholds, some millions of not particularly wealthy people. You know , teachers, middle managers know, teachers, middle managers , Police Officers are now paying tax at the top rate. And that , i tax at the top rate. And that, i think, is a major problem. But i do think, as nigel says, its a question of timing. I do believe that jeremy hunt and rishi sunak wants to cut taxes. But i think wants to cut taxes. But i think in contrast to liz truss, who wants Immediate Tax cuts, they wants Immediate Tax cuts, they want to wait to get the maximum drama and kind of effect of those tax cuts. They want to wait till next spring just before a general election in order to enact them, in order to get the maximum impact on the electorate. But looking at it as a political commentator, do you think the tax cuts need to be implement before an election or about to take place as an election happens, which is more politically powerful . Do people trust the. Never, never . No. I think that what happens is if you do it before the election, it looks like a sweetener to the electorate that if you are the responsible with the economy , which is what the economy, which is what jeremy hunt says he is, then the prudent thing to do is say, no, no tax cuts until weve got inflation back to the bank of england target of 2. So liam , is england target of 2. So liam, is it ridiculous to think that actually liz is being very helpful to jeremy hunt because shes making the intellectual case for tax cuts . Case for tax cuts . So if you were to do it just before an election, he could say, look, this intellectual case been made and its been case has been made and its been made conservatives. Case has been made and its been ma not conservatives. Case has been made and its been ma not doing conservatives. Case has been made and its been ma not doing thewnservatives. Case has been made and its been ma not doing the electionves. Im not doing the election opportunity opportunistic thing. Im doing something which actually many people have been saying i should do for some time. I think theres something in that. I think whats also in liz trusss is preparing for trusss mind is preparing for a post sunak conservative party. Theres an awful lot of talk here about the fact that the conservatives in many peoples minds will lose the next the next election. Theres a battle ofideas next election. Theres a battle of ideas going for on what sort of ideas going for on what sort of conservative party is going to inherit that post sunak crown. I dont think for a minute liz truss is going to become tory leader again, but she want leader again, but she does want to crowns the to be somebody who crowns the next tory leader. And just on the idea of responsibility, yes, of course its irresponsible to go for tax cuts in a situation where theres lots of public spending obligations. On the other hand , and the electorate other hand, and the electorate is also noticing that the second biggest item on the governments Balance Sheet at the