Gordon Brown fuelled talk of impending tax cuts during his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet. Image: Crown copyright.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has fuelled speculation regarding possible tax cuts in the UK following his speech at today’s (11 November) Lord Mayor’s Banquet.

The PM told guests that tax cuts could help to support consumer spending and referred to the US and Germany where tax cuts are already planned.

Speaking in London, Brown said the current turmoil in the world economy offers a chance to build a “new global order” based on cooperation and opportunity; and called for renewed energy to deal with the issues of democracy and human rights, peace, climate change, financial reform and poverty. 

His speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet follows an interview with GMTV yesterday, during which he named tax cuts as a way of stimulating the economy.

He said: “What I am determined to do is to get all countries round the world sort of trying to get their economies moving again, and one way you can do that is by putting more money into the economy by tax cuts or by public spending rises, but that is something that we have got to look at in the next few weeks.”

Speaking live from 10 Downing Street, Gordon Brown was answering questions from the ‘GMTV family’ – chosen to represent younger families up and down the country.

When asked whether he would help them through the current financial crisis with tax cuts, he replied: “Well there is one coming through at the moment, this £120 that you will see reflected in your income tax, I think you have had £60 now and you will get £60 later.  We froze the petrol duty and of course we are going to look at everything, but that is a matter for the budget and the pre-budget report.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling will announce his autumn mini-Budget in the coming weeks – any rate cuts will be welcomed by consumers feeling the pinch of the credit crunch.

By Natasha Piscitelli