Brexit's £100BILLION freedom fund as EU red tape ripped up to radically overhaul UK economy

Jeremy Hunt is set to scrap EU red tape in his growth plan announcement this week as he outlines plans to unlock a £100bn investment fund.

A speech, which is due to be delivered tomorrow, will be used by the Chancellor to show he is serious about economic growth, despite objecting to tax cuts in the March budget.

He is expected to focus on axing EU legislation that prevents insurance firms and pension funds from investing in major infrastructure projects like roads, nuclear power stations and wind farms.

The Chancellor is expected to make a speech tomorrow
Simon Walker / No10 Downing Street

Treasury sources say he will scrap the so-called Solvency II rules by the summer and unleash a huge £100bn fund in private sector investment over the course of the next decade.

Ministers are pushing ahead with proposals to review all EU laws still in the UK statue book as Hunt suggests discarding a huge number of rules to boost productivity and growth.

He will pledge to tackle “declinist narrative” while acknowledging the need to boost skill levels and encourage more people back into the labour market.

The Chancellor will also warn that tax cuts demanded by businesses and Tory MPs will have to be delayed until inflation reduces.

The Conservative MP has privately warned ministers that the prospect for public finances could be “even worse” in March than it was during the emergency budget in November.

Official GDP forecasts will be reduced by 0.2 to 0.5 per cent following weakness in economy and labour shortages, according to a leaked Office for Budget Responsibility assessment.

Jeremy Hunt will deliver the Spring Budget in March
Stefan Rousseau

Former Cabinet minister David Jones said a “prohibitive” hike in corporation tax planned for April would deter investment.

“I don’t know how the country is going to manage that level of indebtedness if the country is not growing,” he told the Daily Mail.

“The Chancellor has got to put pro-growth provisions into his Budget. Simply putting in high taxes that will stifle growth is not what we need.”