Boris Johnson celebrates Brexit Day with tax cut

Boris Johnson will hail “the dawn of a new era” for Britain as he celebrates Brexit day with a tax cut for 31 million people. In a broadcast to the nation at 11pm on Friday – the moment the UK finally breaks free of the EU – the Prime Minister will urge the country to look forward, not back, saying “this is not an end, but a beginning…a moment of real national renewal and change”.

Mr Johnson will hold a special Cabinet meeting on Friday morning in Sunderland, which was first to declare a Leave vote in the 2016 EU referendum, where he will tell ministers they must focus on delivering the benefits that come from Britain’s new found freedom from Brussels. To give workers the feeling of an immediate Brexit bounce, Mr Johnson approved an increase in the threshold at which workers start paying National Insurance from £8,628 to £9,500, resulting in a tax cut of £104 for a typical employee starting in April. Mr Johnson also received a boost from Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, who said after meeting him in Downing Street that Britain would be “at the front of the line” for a transatlantic trade deal. In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Pompeo said Britain and the US could raise the special relationship “one last level” and agree a “gold standard” trade agreement.