Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have abandoned a plan to abolish the top rate of income tax for the highest earners in an astonishing U-turn (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has defended his rapid tax cut U-turn on the first main day of the Conservative Conference, saying he was influenced to scrap the policy after listening to MPs and people up and down the country.
He announced the government would drop plans to ditch the planned axing of the 45p top rate of income tax, just a day after Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted she was absolutely committed to seeing the policy through.
It followed public comments from former cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Grant Shapps disagreeing with the policy, on top of criticism from political commentators and the public.
The Evening Standard’s Political Editor Nicholas Cecil who is at the Conservative Conference in Birmingham described the U-turn as “almost unheard of”; he speaks with us about the general feeling at the event following the announcement and how significant it might be for the PM and the Chancellor.
And Julia Davies, one of the founders of Patriotic Millionaires UK, a group calling for higher taxes for the wealthy, gives her verdict on the tax U-turn.
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