Gove joins assault on Liz Truss' tax cut package for the rich

Former cabinet minister Michael Gove strongly criticized Liz Truss' decision includes tax cuts for the wealthy, saying her unfunded £45billion package had the "wrong values" and was not Tory.

Her intervention is came as pressure mounted from Tory MPs for Ms Truss to reverse controversial plans to scrap the 45p income tax bracket, which provides an average of £10,000 to the 600,000 people who earn the more in the UK at a time when ministers are considering cuts in real terms to social benefits.

A former minister told The Indep endent that the government would struggle to push the cut through the Commons when it comes before MPs in the new year, in what would be a virtually unprecedented rebellion against a budget measure.< /p >

"The sensible thing to do might be to push back, say they will, but in a few years. Give yourself some leeway,' he said.

Grant Shapps, the former transport secretary, joined Mr Gove in warning against plans 'politically fools".

Writing in The Times, he said the government should not be giving "big handouts to those who need them least...not least because 'it's paid for with borrowed money'.

And there was a furious response from backbench MPs to Tory Speaker Jake Berry's warning that the rebels would be stripped of their whipping, with a former minister telling The Independent: "A threat to deport people who don't follow this crazy cock-up beat is, frankly, insane." quite possible," the ex-minister said, adding: "Anyone trying to keep their constituency - or anyone thinking about their next job - won't want blood on their hands from that."

The MP Curator of Lewes, Maria Ca ulfield, tweeted on Sunday night: 'Can't support waiving 45p tax while nurses struggle to pay their bills.'

< p>She tagged Mr Berry in her comment , continuing: 'If the Conservative Party doesn't want this working class MP, that's fine.'

In a defensive TV interview on the first day of the Conservative Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister confirmed reports that it was reviewing former Chancellor Rishi Sunak's promise of a roughly 10% increase in working-age benefits in line with inflation, and did not rule out service cuts public.

She blamed miscommunication for the panic in markets sparked by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget last week.

But she told Laura Kuenssberg from the BBC that she was sticking to her plans, including lowering income tax and l a removal of the cap on bankers' bonuses.

Mr. Kwarteng himself is expected to stick to his guns in a conference speech on Monday which will be closely watched in financial markets.

But former Chancellor George Osborne said it was 'touch and go if the Chancellor can survive', telling Channel 4's Andrew Neil Show that it would be 'curtains' if his speech went wrong.

The loyalist Johnson's Nadine Dorries lit up the PM, accusing him of 'throwing the Chancellor under a bus' after Ms Truss revealed the cabinet had not been consulted on the 45p move and described it as "a decision taken by the chancellor".

Another former minister told The Independent the attempt to distance himself from the controversial policy was "bizarre", as he was " unthinkable" that she didn't approve of it.

But Downing Street and the Treasury dismissed suggestions of a rift between the two, with a No 10 source saying they were "completely united" and a source close to Kwarteng describing them as "while denying he was a 'rebel leader', Mr Gove has not ruled out voting against abolishing the 45p strip. .