Philip Hammond has said the UK will not be transformed into a tax haven following Brexit.
The chancellor told French newspaper Le Monde the UK had no intention of sweeping cuts in taxes and regulation after voting to leave Europe last year.
In the interview he highlighted that the percentage of the British economy raised by tax ‘puts us right in the middle’ of EU countries, adding ‘we don’t want that to change, even after we’ve left the EU’.
He continued: ‘I often hear it said that the UK is considering participating in unfair competition in regulation and tax. That is neither our plan nor our vision for the future.’
‘I would expect us to remain a country with a social, economic and cultural model that is recognisably European.’
The comments represent something of a U-turn from the chancellor who earlier this year indicated the UK was prepared tear up its economic model and become a tax haven if the country was shut out of the single market.
In the interview with German paper Welt am Sonntag, Hammond had said ‘you can be sure we will do whatever we have to do’, to remain competitive following Brexit.