Dyson calls UK approach to economy ‘stupid’

Sir James Dyson has called the government’s approach to the economy and business in the UK “stupid” and “short-sighted.” 

Dyson said growth had “become a dirty word” during Rishi Sunak’s premiership. 

Dyson writes in the Daily Telegraph, urging the government to “incentivise private innovation and demonstrate its ambition for growth”.

Levelling-up secretary Michael Gove said the government was “firing on all cylinders” to help businesses. 

Dyson, a prominent supporter of Brexit and a net worth of around £23bn, said the government believed it could “impose tax upon tax on companies in the belief that penalising the private sector is a free win at the ballot box”.

“This is as short-sighted as it is stupid. In the global economy, companies will simply choose to transfer jobs and invest elsewhere,” he warned.

His comments come after the government announced in the autumn £25bn worth of tax rises in an attempt to balance the books and restore credibility to the UK’s finances – following the Liz Truss mini-budget mess.