Speeches by Murray.

“It is not online. There will be some questions to answer. We can assume that it will be a digitally-led process for registration, but I can update the Committee in due course about what we are considering in terms of minimising the burden, while also making sure it is an effective process.”

“Thanks very much, Chair, for having me today. If I set the context of when I was appointed, under Rachel Reeves as Chancellor, we had some very clear priorities for HMRC, which I am sure I will come to later in the session today. I was determined to drive those changes through the organisation at HMRC. I know that diff…”

“It is a different job. The role that Jayne-Anne Gadhia plays is a fantastic benefit to HMRC. She brings a huge amount of experience, counsel and advice for me. Her staying on as the lead NED has been really important.”

“I wanted to reform the board around our priorities as an incoming Administration.”

“I wanted to ensure that the priorities that I have on behalf of the Government, Ministers and the new Administration were transmitted as directly as possible through to HMRC to deliver that.”

“I have to be slightly careful because civil servants, rightly, do not tell me exactly what previous Ministers’ relationships were like with HMRC. My impression of it is that Ministers have been, certainly in recent years, much more arm’s length with HMRC. There is an issue here where the principle of taxpayer confident…”

“No, because that is with my hat on as Exchequer Secretary. As a Minister, I would have a role in setting the general direction of HMRC. Ultimately, the backstop is that Ministers can issue directions to HMRC. That is never needed, hopefully, because the backstop is that directions can be issued, which means that, on a …”

“Ultimately, I am held to account by the people of this country and the voters. As a Government, we are held to account for whether we deliver. We were elected to deliver.”

“Ultimately, it has always stopped with Ministers. The way to make sure that you can not only make clear that accountability line but use the relationship between the Minister and HMRC to deliver change is by making sure that it is less arm’s length than it has been in the past.”

“It is a very interesting question. There are two parts to that question, so whether I think it has been understaffed and what the optimal size is. On the first question of whether they have been understaffed, given the fact that we can increase the staff by the level that we have set out and get this extra tax revenue …”

“With any organisation, and I have found this in roles before, there is a rate question as well as a destination question, if you like.”

“The Chancellor has been clear that the fiscal rules are non-negotiable, so the fiscal rules will be met. My job is to make sure we are implementing the commitments the Chancellor has already made at the autumn Budget and that we deliver them. That goes partly to my point around why I am so keen to be hands-on with deli…”

“The £6.5 billion that we committed to at the Budget is additional tax revenue, so that assumes a compliance yield underneath that. Some of the work that HMRC has to do is just to keep up with expectations about the base compliance yield. That would obviously take into consideration changes in taxpayer population and so…”

“Thanks very much for that question. The decision about employer’s national insurance contributions in the Budget is one of the toughest decisions that we took as a Government. We recognised that there would be consequences of it, but it is crucial to underline why we took that decision. We knew that, if we did not fix …”

“Part of the calculation was that we want to make sure that the smaller businesses have greater protection, because they might find it harder to respond to the changes that we are making. I know that businesses will have to make difficult decisions to respond to the changes in employer’s national insurance contributions…”

“One key thing that I was really keen on publishing at the same time as the Budget was our corporate tax roadmap. One thing that businesses said to me when we were in opposition as well as in government is that having stability, certainty and predictability is crucial for investment decisions. Although we recognise the …”

“The tax burden is high in this country. I am sure businesses would want it to be lower and we want it to be lower on working people. Overall, the tax burden should not go any higher than it needs to. In the context of a difficult fiscal situation, where it was very difficult and difficult decisions had to be taken, pro…”

“No. It is an interesting point. Obviously we keep all elements of tax policy under review. You would expect me to say that the Chancellor makes any announcements at fiscal events in the normal way. Anything we can do to support businesses to make investment is something that is central to our growth agenda. If we could…”

“We are still considering the medium and long-term approach to the tax advice market. The first thing that we need to do, which we have committed to doing and I think is a good first step, is to make sure there is a mandatory registration of tax advisers who interact with HMRC. That is very much a floor in terms of what…”

“Any digital-first strategy has to be mindful of digital exclusion, because we are not like another company where someone can go to an alternative company. People have to interact with HMRC to pay their taxes. We are a public service. We have to make sure we are accessible. Having said that, while we need to make sure t…”