Rebel UK Conservative lawmakers prepare to block scrapping of top income tax rate

LONDON (Reuters) – Rebel British lawmakers from Prime Minister Liz Truss’s Conservative Party are preparing to vote down sections of a finance bill to block the abolition of the top rate of income tax, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

The government’s plans for huge tax cuts, unveiled last week, have come under criticism after triggering nearly a week of financial market chaos including a sharp fall in the value of pound sterling .

Those tax cuts included a plan to scrap the 45% top rate of income tax applied to the highest earners. Britain’s opposition Labour Party has pledged to restore the tax rate to 45% if it comes to power, saying tax cuts for the wealthy would not spur growth.

“Frustration doesn’t come close – MPs are absolutely furious,” The Telegraph quoted an unnamed ex-Cabinet minister as saying. “The 45p tax rate cut was completely unnecessary. It came at a high political cost for very little benefit.”

Earlier on Thursday, Truss defended her plans to reignite economic growth and said taking urgent action to grow the economy meant “taking controversial and difficult decisions.”

Truss will hold emergency talks with the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Guardian reported on Thursday, after days of chaos in financial markets triggered by the government’s planned tax cuts.

Truss and finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng will meet Richard Hughes, chair of the independent fiscal watchdog, on Friday before they are presented with a draft of its full fiscal forecasts next week, the report said.