CRITICS of Liz Truss's tax cuts "don't believe in Britain" and are the same people who "attacked Brexit", the Tory party chairman has claimed.
Despite a YouGov poll finding that seven in 10 Tory voters don't approve of the plans which disproportionately benefit high-earners, Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, brushed off disapproval of the policies.
Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's budget, which included the unpopular move of scrapping the banker's bonuses cap and dropping an incoming hike to corporation tax, has raised eyebrows among economic experts in the US who have suggested the pound could fall below the euro and dollar.
But according to Berry criticism levelled at the Tory government for backing those with higher incomes rather than providing support for those in need is from the same people who opposed Brexit and subsequently dismissed their concerns.
In his first interview since taking the role, Berry told the Daily Express: “I really believe in Britain and our Prime Minister really believes in Britain. I know that Britain can do this.
“If I am really honest with you and I think about the collective voices which we have heard doubting the fact that Britain can go for growth, I mean it really is the same people who opposed Brexit.
“It’s the same people a few years ago after Britain voted to leave the EU were saying ‘Britain can’t stand on her own two feet, we can’t be an independent sovereign nation outside the EU, you working people you didn’t know what you were doing, you were stupid voting for Brexit.’
“Those same voices, in fact in many cases the exact same people, who have gone from being experts on European law to experts in the financial market overnight, saying we can’t do this."
He added: “The message I would clearly give is that they were wrong about Brexit and they are wrong about this Government’s ambition to grow this economy.”
Berry was previously chairman of the Northern Research Group (NRG), which led the Tory party campaign in Red Wall seats in the north of England, securing Boris Johnson's 2019 victory.
He criticised the Labour party's vow to undo the policies put in place by Kwarteng if they came to power, adding that he didn't believe the "mini-budget" was for the rich only.
Berry added: “I think the Labour Party is making a big mistake - people who voted Conservative voted Conservative because they wanted a Conservative government not because they wanted some pale imitation of a socialist government.”
He added: “This growth is going to be delivered by people who work in factories in places like Doncaster, Darlington or work in the financial services in London or Leeds or work in IT in Cheltenham or Cheadle.
“The people going into their workplace, working hard, growing the economy and at the end of it keeping more of their own money.
“That’s what this Government promised them and that’s what it delivered.”
Berry also claimed the policies in the mini-budget are "focussed on putting more money back in the pockets of working people".
We previously told how a think tank warned that the Tory party's budget will do nothing to help the two million people at risk of falling into poverty this winter.
An analysis by Resolution Foundation said “only the very richest households in Britain” will see their incomes grow as a result of the most significant tax cuts in 50 years.
The richest 5% will see their incomes grow by 2% next year (2023-24), while the other 95% of the population will get poorer.
