Michelle Donelan backs Liz Truss in leadership election

LOCAL MP Michelle Donelan has backed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for prime minister in the Conservative Party leadership contest. 

The MP says she is supporting Liz Truss to ‘help people through the tough times ahead with tax cuts and focus on growing our economy’. 

“My vote is going to Liz Truss in the Leadership Contest – we need to help people through the tough times ahead with tax cuts and focus on growing our economy – Liz’s plan will do this,” she said. “We have £30 Billion headroom which has been verified by the OBR, plus under Liz’s plans we would be paying down the debt within three years. 

“As a nation we went through a period of austerity to bring down the debt but then along came much needed mass spending to help people through COVID. We can’t do it all over again because of a once in a century pandemic. Instead we need to take a little time and focus on growing the economy which will make repaying the debt easier and not place avoidable pain on people.  

“There is absolutely nothing irresponsible about this, but keeping taxes high when people will be struggling to put food on the table would be. It’s not true to say that Liz’s tax cuts will fuel inflation. We are facing inflation because of supply side shocks and a loose monetary policy. The economy is not over heating and as outlined the cuts can be funded.” 

She added that whilst Liz Truss has committed to immediate tax cuts to directly help people with the cost of living, Rishi Sunak has maintained that we are not in a position as a country to lower taxes. She also said that in addition to tax cuts, Liz Truss has also announced a commitment to cut serious crime by 20% and publish police league tables to keep communities safer, including in rural areas like Wiltshire.