Michael Gove says Liz Truss’s tax cut plans ‘not Conservative’
Michael Gove has launched a sustained broadside at Liz Truss’s economic plans, saying it was “not Conservative” to fund tax cuts from borrowing and marked a betrayal of the party’s one nation 2019 election manifesto.
In a frantic day of interventions, the former levelling up secretary first told BBC One – while Truss watched from the same studio – that it was probable he could not back the tax cuts in parliament, before embarking on a string of similarly damning fringe appearances at the Conservative conference.
While Gove insisted he was not in contact with other Conservative MPs, his status in the party is likely to make him a focus for a growing backbench rebellion over Truss’s decision to scrap the top rate of tax and the cap on bankers’ bonuses.
Despite warnings from the Conservative party chair, Jake Berry, that MPs who voted against the fiscal measures would lose the Tory whip, so far 12 backbenchers have said they plan to do this.
The mooted idea that the government would trim the welfare budget to pay for such changes was inconceivable, Gove said, telling the prime minister in effect that she had to change course or risk her mini-budget being voted down.
“It’s going to be very, very, very difficult to argue that it is right to reduce welfare, when we’re also reducing taxes for the wealthiest,” Gove told one fringe event in Birmingham, organised by the Daily Telegraph.
The 2019 manifesto was “a one nation majority” that must be respected, Gove said: “People wanted Brexit done but they also wanted levelling up. They wanted a Conservative government that was dedicated to improving the lives of those who hadn’t necessarily been traditional Conservative voters, and certainly were not among the wealthiest in society. And
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