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Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shops, the Spectator's daily politics podcast. I'm Katie Bors

and I'm joined by James Fusife and Fraser Nelson. Over the weekend, Labour shadow cabinet members,

along with heads of the unions, have been meeting to draw up Labour's manifesto. We won't find out

the full details until Thursday. But for now, the Tories have made it

into the news agenda with their own policy announcement. Boris Johnson is going to delay

corporation tax cuts in a bid to save £6 billion that can go to the NHS. James, talk

to us about the thinking behind this.

So the theory goes that once you get below 20% for a large economy, for an economy of the UK size,

there's not that much more benefit from cutting corporation tax.

And indeed, there are other things like infrastructure spending that would actually kind of help you get businesses to locate here.

I also think it's a recognition of the fact that from the point of view of big business

in the Corbin agenda, the Tories don't need to be offering more corporation tax cuts to make

themselves look like the more appealing face.

And this policy frees up money for the Tories to offer tax breaks for small businesses,

High Street businesses that we all know are struggling because of online shopping and all

this stuff. Now, I personally think that trying to save a high street is a little bit like to continue

the great calumony on King Canute, because King Canute was actually trying to show that he was powerless

to stop the waves. It is a little bit in the generally misunderstood way that the King Canoot

story is used. It is a little bit King Canute-like to suggest that the High Street can be saved, I think, personally. But anyway, but what you see is the Tory is trying to close down a vulnerability of you're just giving big business what they want and you're not doing anything to save or help small businesses. And I think it's also a recognition that because the Tories want to spend more money on lots and lots of stuff, and they also want to offer tax cuts to the low paid, something's got to give somewhere if they're going to maintain

...