But Mr Stride defended the decision, telling the BBC: “The big distinction here between him and Liz is basically this. What Liz relies on to provide support to those who really need it is tax cuts and National Insurance is central to that.
‘It won’t in fact pay anything over £60 a year for someone on the National Living Wage who works 40 hours a week and it won’t help the vast majority of pensioners either, the very people who need this help.
“What Rishi is saying is no, I’m not going to spend tens and tens of billions of extra loans on tax cuts, but I’ll spend a smaller, targeted amount for those who really need it and it is an essential distinction.”
“It’s a measured and proportionate approach”
Told it was still a U-turn, Mr Stride said: ‘Well it’s a measured and proportionate approach to where we are and it fits the kind of imaginative interventions and serious things that Rishi has done in the past. ”
He added: “We have to wait until August 26 to find out exactly where those caps are actually going to land and at that point I think he can give more details.
“But it’s more about saving than borrowing. To the extent that it could be borrowing it’s very small amounts and it’s one-off and I think that’s the distinction between her position and the huge tens of billions that Liz Truss would borrow to fund tax reductions.
It came as Therese Coffey, Work and Pensions Secretary and Ms Truss supporter, said more cost-of-living ‘subsidies’ for the most vulnerable would be ‘absolutely’ considered by the Business Secretary foreign if she were to win the curator. leadership race.
Ms Truss had previously hinted that she was opposed to ‘handouts’ and stressed that her priority would be to cut taxes.
Asked if ‘distributions’ would be a possibility under Ms Truss, Ms Coffey told Sky News: ‘Absolutely. Every option will be considered in terms of what support programs might be needed, whether it’s a targeted way or a general way of reducing that, taking away that increase in national insurance that Liz has gotten herself absolutely committed to doing in an emergency budget.