Tory leadership 'frontrunner' Liz Truss was not ruling out fresh cost of living crisis support when she rejected "handouts", her ally has said.
Penny Mordaunt, a former contender in the battle to win No10, came out batting for the Foreign Secretary, claiming Ms Truss's comments were "misinterpreted".
Ms Truss has said tax cuts, not “handouts”, would help families with rocketing fuel bills this winter.
Her rival, Rishi Sunak criticised her comments saying it's "simply wrong" to rule out further support at this difficult time.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged both candidates to launch an emergency budget with Mr Johnson this week or risk 'condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty'
“The reality is grim and undeniable: a financial timebomb will explode for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shock waves through every household and pushes millions over the edge,” the former prime minister wrote in Sunday’s Observer.
Trade Minister Ms Mordaunt said Ms Truss is "looking at though is enabling people to keep more of the money that they earn".
She added: “It makes no sense to take money off of people and then to give it back in very, very complicated ways.
“We need to simplify this and we need to ensure that households are as resilient as possible and stopping taking large sums of tax off people is one way of doing that.”
Ms Mordaunt gave Ms Truss's campaign a huge boost last week when she publicly backed the Foreign Secretary's bid to become the next Prime Minister.
Criticising Ms Truss's "no handouts" comments, Mr Sunak said: “It’s simply wrong to rule out further direct support at this time as Liz Truss has done, and what’s more, her tax proposals are not going to help very significantly people like pensioners or those on low incomes who are exactly the kind of families that are going to need help."
The former chancellor told the Sunday Times the public deserved “clear-eyed realism and not starry-eyed boosterism”.
Conservative members will elect Boris Johnson's successor, with the new Prime Minister announced on September 5.
Ms Truss says she will immediately reverse the National Insurance rise if she wins the keys to No10.
The Foreign Secretary has pledged to scrap the tax that was brought in by former Chancellor and leadership rival Rishi Sunak, throughout her campaign.
Her campaign team initially thought they would only be able to cut the tax in April 2023. But they now believe it can be reversed within weeks.
