It’s day one of Tory conference and already the drumbeat of rebellion is filling the air. There was much to digest in last week’s mini-Budget but the measure that has attracted the most attention was the eye-catching plan to cut the top rate of tax from 45p to 40p. This morning Michael Gove attacked the measure on Laura Kuenssberg’s show as a ‘display of the wrong values’ but he’s far from alone in having doubts. Below is the The Spectator’s running tally of the Tory MPs who have gone public and voiced their concerns.
- James Cartlidge ‘Cutting tax for top earners while reducing benefits in a cost of living crisis is unacceptable.’
- Robert Largan ‘You cannot freeze benefits and pensions while cutting taxes for millionaires.’
- Julian Smith ‘We cannot clap for carers one month and cut tax for millionaires months later.’
- Michael Gove ‘A display of the wrong values.’
- Peter Aldous ‘Tax cuts alone are highly unlikely to prove sufficient in achieving a sustained 2.5 per cent growth target.’
- Simon Hoare
- Martin Vickers ‘A political own goal.’
- Bob Neill: ‘We should think again about the top rate cut.’
- Huw Merriman
- Richard Graham ‘Government this week should push tax cuts for the best off into the long grass’
- Steve Double ‘I can’t explain the tax cut to my constituents.’
- Steve Brine ‘Tin eared and extremely politically naieve’.
- Andrew Bowie
- Grant Shapps
- Maria Caulfield
And non-MPs:
- Andy Street ‘If it was me I wouldn’t have done that.’
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