BORIS Johnson has announced he will shelve a planned corporation tax cut in a bid to divert £6 billion to the "priorities of the British people".

The Prime Minister said such a change was the "fiscally responsible thing to do at the present time" and named the NHS as being among the services expected to receive more money as a result.

The main rate of corporation tax on company profits is currently 19 per cent but was due to fall to 17 per cent next April.

When the former Chancellor George Osborne announced the future cut to corporation tax in his 2016 budget, the Treasury estimated this would cost some £945 million in 2020-21.

It is, therefore, believed that Mr Johnson gets his £6bn total from accumulating this figure over a five-year parliament, allowing for inflation. However, while this will push up the Conservatives’ extra spending on the NHS to around £21bn a year, it is still below Labour’s planned annual £26bn additional expenditure for health care.

The PM also made clear he would "keep Sajid Javid as Chancellor," stressing: "He’s a great guy and he’s doing a fantastic job and I’m proud to count him as a colleague." 

His announcements came at the annual CBI conference during a speech in which he also outlined a desire to push on with "uniting and levelling up" the country.

Mr Johnson said if the country's potential was "enormous, then so is the injustice," pointing to regions of the country lagging behind London.

Speaking at the InterContinental Hotel in Greenwich, south-east London, the PM told business leaders: "I hope you won't mind if I also announce today that we are postponing further cuts in corporation tax.

"And before you storm the stage and protest…let me remind you this saves us £6bn we can put into the priorities of the British people, including the NHS."

He added: "I hope you will understand it is the sensible, it is the fiscally responsible thing to do at the present time. It doesn't mean we're in any way averse to reducing taxes on business, as I'm sure you'll understand."

But Labour’s John McDonnell responded by saying Mr Johnson had only announced a “temporary pause in the Tories’ race to the bottom on corporation tax”.

The Shadow Chancellor said: "It cannot compensate for the lives that have been lost and will not repair the damage done to our communities to pay for the Conservatives’ handouts to big business since 2010.

"The Government’s own figures show that billions have been lost to the public purse, which has had real consequences across the country.”

He added: "This pale attempt to mask the Conservatives' history of handing out tax giveaways to big business shows they are in chaos but when the election is over we know they’ll soon revert to type."

The PM’s announcement came as Jeremy Corbyn, also appearing at the CBI event, vowed to put an end to the "tax tricks" that allowed the "biggest corporations to avoid paying their way".

The Labour leader dismissed as "nonsense" claims that he was anti-business and instead said his government would bring "more investment" to businesses than they had "ever dreamt of".

He told captains of industry that he was "not making any apologies" for pledging to bring some key services into public ownership, saying: "It's not an attack on the foundations of a modern economy, it's the very opposite. It's the norm in many European countries. It's taking the essential steps to build a genuinely mixed economy for the 21st century."

Mr Corbyn added: "So I understand your caution about some of our plans but your businesses, your workers, your consumers have been failed by rip-off energy bills and very poor rail and bus services in many parts of the country and many of you know that because you know things can't go on as they are."

Jo Swinson will address the conference later on Monday and is set to declare that the Liberal Democrats are the "natural party of business".

The party leader will insist remaining in the EU gives the UK the best chance of success, as "any form of Brexit, whether it's hard or soft, blue or red, will be bad for jobs, business and our public services".