‘Truss has to go’ - Merseyside MPs react as Government forced into U-turn on high earner tax cut

The government has U-turned on plans to cut the 45% top rate of income tax for the country’s highest earners amid widespread criticism and a reported Tory revolt.

Despite Prime Minister, Liz Truss repeatedly claiming she was ‘committed’ to the policy, it was announced on Monday morning that it will no longer go ahead.

The tax cut was declared just ten days ago as part of the Government’s mini-budget, alongside scrapping national insurance increases, reducing income tax by 1p and removing the bankers’ bonus cap.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said: “There’s a lot of good stuff in the plan. The 45p rate was becoming a huge distraction from what was a very strong plan.”

The U-turn raises concern about the credibility of both the Chancellor and Liz Truss, both of whom have faced mass criticism for the market fallout that took place after the mini-budget was announced - including the pound dropping to its lowest level ever against the dollar.

Many Conservative MPs voiced their opposition to the tax cuts, and the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves has expressed that the U-turn isn’t enough to change the damage that has already been done.

However, Merseyside’s only Conservative MP, Damien Moore, continues to back PM Truss and Chancellor Kwarteng.

The Tory MP for Southport told BBC Radio Merseyside: “Liz really believes in this, she really wants growth and wants to inspire people.”

“I think the Chancellor was absolutely right, it had just become a complete distraction from all the other things we were trying to do.

“When you’re trying to explain to people why the growth plan is important, why it will actually benefit our economy, it’s wrong to get sidetracked all the time by this constant talk about the 45p rate, so I think they’ve listened, they’ve reacted and now we can get on with the job.”

The region’s Labour MP’s were not so accommodating, with Ian Byrne, MP for West Derby, insisting Truss has to go.

“Working class people stood up to Thatcher in 1990 over the Poll Tax as they stood up to Truss now over a dire budget that tanked the economy. Unelected. Unravelling. Unbelievable. Truss has to go.” he said on social media.

Bill Esterson, Labour MP for Sefton Central and Shadow Minister for Business and Industry, suggested the Government’s claim they scrapped the tax cut because it was a major distraction from the rest of the mini budget is ‘nonsense’.

“They’ve only scrapped it because they couldn’t get away with it. Now they need to reverse the rest of the made in Downing Street kamikaze budget,” he tweeted.

Peter Dowd, Labour MP for Bootle, pulled no punches and said this ‘Tory motley crew’ should ‘throw in the towel’.

“Call a General Election, hand back the keys of No.10 and No.11 and put a progressive, Labour government back in control for the sake of our country,” he added.