Corporation tax: Diane Dodds says issue 'not dead and gone'

Ms Dodds said cutting corportation tax was "always a tool that we will need"

The Economy Minister Diane Dodds has said a cut in corporation tax still "sits on the books as a policy idea".

Cutting the tax, which is applied to company profits, was for many years a key economic policy shared by the Stormont parties.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Conor Murphy said he was not "actively pursuing" a cut.

Mrs Dodds told BBC News NI that the most important thing for her right now was to look at Brexit's impact on NI.

The power to cut corporation tax was devolved to Northern Ireland in 2015.

Ms Dodds said cutting corporation tax is something "to do in the long term"

Speaking on BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster Mrs Dodds said: "I think it's always there that we would like to see a lower rate of corporation tax.

"That would make us more competitive with our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland who have an incredibly low rate of corporation tax."

Mrs Dodds said cutting corporation tax is "always a tool that we will need" and something "to do in the long term".

However she added: "The most important thing we need to do right now, in the next number of months, not even years, is to look at how Brexit and the out-workings of Brexit will impact on Northern Ireland economically."

Northern Ireland's rate of corporation tax was set to be cut in 2018

The previous Northern Ireland executive had intended to cut the corporation tax rate to 12.5% by 2018, matching the rate in the Republic of Ireland.

The rate of Corporation Tax in the UK is currently 19%.

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster on Tuesday, Conor Murphy said: "I think the issue probably has, given Brexit and given the change in economic and political circumstances, reduced in significance and we find ourselves struggling just to provide the basic public services.

"That's not to say that others may not raise it again, but it's not something that I'm actively pursuing."

Prior to the collapse of power-sharing in 2017, the major parties suggested that cutting the tax would help tackle long-term problems in the Northern Ireland economy.

The assumption was that if companies could keep more of their profits, it would unleash an unprecedented wave of investment and growth.

In the years after the power was devolved, Stormont attempted to negotiate the affordability issue with the Treasury but little progress was made.