A North Yorkshire MP has become one of the first Conservatives in the region to publicly speak out against Liz Truss’s tax cuts for the wealthiest.

Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith hinted he was against the new Prime Minster’s cuts for the best off, saying, “We cannot clap for carers one month and cut tax for millionaires months later.”

Posting on Twitter he said: “The first job of an MP is to act in the interest of their constituents & in the national interest. We cannot clap for carers one month & cut tax for millionaires months later.”

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It comes after a week of political uproar and economic instability after new PM Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng abolished the top 45p rate of tax for the highest earners as part of their massive tax-cutting ‘mini’ budget.

It means the North Yorkshire MP could risk losing his position on the Conservative benches after the party chairman said those Tory MPs who vote against the Government’s plan for tax cuts will lose the whip.

Veteran Tory MP Michael Gove also came out against the plans on Sunday (October 2) morning as told the BBC there were “two major things” that were problematic with the plans set out by the Prime Minister and Chancellor.

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Mr Gove said: “The first is the sheer risk of using borrowed money to fund tax cuts. That’s not Conservative.

“The second thing is the decision to cut the 45p rate (of income tax) and indeed at the same time to change the law which governs how bankers are paid in the City of London.

“Ultimately, at a time when people are suffering, and you are quite right to point out the concerns people have not just over mortgages but over benefits, when you have additional billions of pounds in play, to have as your principle decision, the headline tax move, cutting tax for the wealthiest, that is a display of the wrong values.”

However, defending her plans Liz Truss said: “We are not dealing with the issues we are dealing with in isolation.

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“We are dealing with these issues in a world where there is a slowing global economy and where there are rising interest rates, where there is huge inflation, mainly driven by energy, caused by Vladimir Putin’s war.

“I as Prime Minister, and the Chancellor, have to deal with that in the way that we think will help people in Britain most get through these very, very difficult short-term circumstances but put our country on the best long-term footing.”

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