Liz Truss is ‘clearly listening’ after today’s dramatic U-turn on cutting taxes for the highest earners, Bracknell’s MP has said. 

James Sunderland told BBC Radio Berkshire that economically the measure is “pretty sound” but politically “quite sensitive”, suggesting the government “underestimated the reaction” from both the markets and public. 

Ms Truss and the new chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, have abandoned plans to scrap the 45p tax rate amid widespread criticism that the policy favours the rich during a cost-of-living crisis and threats of a rebellion from fellow Conservative MPs. 

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“This is not about rich vs poor, […] what we have to do is incentivise everybody, working people, businesses, the wealthy, to work and to put money back into the treasury because the money has to come from somewhere,” Mr Sunderland explained. 

“I think it’s been proven over the years that if you reduce tax, you do increase the yield to the treasury.” 

The chancellor and Ms Truss had been doubling down on their plans despite the financial turmoil triggered by the package, with the Prime Minister defending the tax cut as recently as Sunday. 

They had even resisted backing down in the face of criticism from the International Monetary Fund and a £65 billion emergency intervention by the Bank of England to restore order. 

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The Liberal Democrat’s parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, Clive Jones, called the Prime Minister “clueless”, suggesting she only U-turned because she knew the policy “wasn’t going to be voted through” by her own MPs. 

Mr Jones called Ms Truss a “short-term PM’, suggesting both her and the chancellor should be “gone by the end of the day”. 

Mr Sunderland has publicly supported the pair, who have only been in their respective posts for less than a month, urging everyone to “give them a chance”. 

“[…] They’ve had some difficult decisions straight away. […] I don’t blame her for trying, this is a government that wants to be bold and ambitious. 

“Doing nothing is not an option and I think ultimately I give them credit for wanting to make a difference,” he added. 

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Mr Kwarteng did not rule out a new era of austerity to pay for the surviving £43b of tax cuts in his mini-budget, nor did he, or Ms Truss, say whether benefits will suffer real-terms cuts as inflation increases. 

In response Mr Sunderland recongised that it would be “quite difficult” to be discussing tax cuts for the wealthy and not to increase benefits in line with inflation. 

“I think people are suffering out there, we’ve got to make sure we bring people with us,” he said. 

Mr Jones raised concerns about the introduction of more austerity measures, exclaiming that people with the least money “should not be hammered for the government’s mistakes”.