This morning’s Centre for Policy Studies report will be worth noting when Corbyn responds to the Budget later. Their new research out today finds that reducing corporation tax from 28% to 20% has helped increase growth and profitability leading to a rise in receipts by 28% since 2011. Labour’s policy is to increase corporation tax to 21.5% to fund £15 billion of extra spending per year. Yet the CPS finds that such a hike would only raise £5 billion, leaving Labour with a £10 billion funding gap. 

Labour have pledged to spend the corporation tax money 11 times already: on the adult skills budget, supporting British steel, ending public sector pay restraint, reintroducing EMA, scrapping tuition fees, extending pension credit, reversing Universal Credit changes, pensions triple lock, social care, the NHS and PIPs. And now the experts say it won’t raise anything like as much as they need. Ammo for the Tories when Corbyn gets up to respond to Hammond…