Lizz Truss calls for ‘simplified’ whisky tax in bid to be next Chancellor

Liz Truss has called for a simpler tax system. Picture: Getty

The UK’s complex system of alcohol duties should be simplified, one of the top candidates to become chancellor under Boris Johnson has said.

Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said she wanted to boost Scotch whisky exports and called for a “simpler tax system” with a lower tax burden for individuals and businesses.

Ms Truss, who is seen as being in competition with Mr Johnson’s one-time leadership rival Sajid Javid for the role of Chancellor, was open at a gathering of Westminster journalists about her ambition to work “in the engine room of the British economy” under the next Prime Minister.