A SCOTTISH Tory MSP has contradicted his party leadership and attacked Liz Truss’s “indefensible” tax cuts for the highest earners.
Douglas Ross had backed the plan to fund £45 billion of tax cuts for the rich with increased government borrowing – calling for Scotland to follow suit even as the policy precipitated the collapse of the pound to record lows.
However, Ross’s position at the head of the party may be on shaky ground, with reports saying that “at least” two separate plots to oust him were in the works – among a group of just 30 MSPs.
Truss’s government is also struggling to maintain the public support of its own MPs, with the divisions of the Tory leadership election still fresh and Rishi Sunak declining to attend the party’s conference, which begins on Sunday.
As the party battles itself, North East Scotland list MSP Maurice Golden told The Courier that he “can’t and won’t” justify the UK Government’s tax cuts.
Golden (below), one of a small minority of Scottish Tory MSPs without a role on the party’s frontbench, said his Tory bosses in London had put forward a budget for party members “rather than the whole of the United Kingdom”.
He told the Courier: “I wasn’t impressed – I think politically the abolishment of the higher rate of tax is indefensible.
“When constituents in Dundee have got in touch and asked how I, as a Conservative, can justify the abolishment of the higher rate tax band, I’ve said I can’t and I won’t.
“My duty is ultimately to stick up for the people of Dundee and I don’t think they’re best served through that policy intervention.
“I think it’s very worrying for the Scottish Conservatives that they could be impacted – and we could be impacted even more so in the city.
“2017 was a high point for us in terms of the local elections and it was very disappointing last year. I think that worse is potentially to follow.”
Presumably by “last year” Golden was referring to the local elections which happened earlier in 2022, which saw the Tories slip into third place behind Labour in terms of the overall number of councillors returned.
In 2021, the Holyrood elections saw Ross’s party manage to cling on to the 31 MSP seats which they had also won with Ruth Davidson in charge of the party in 2016.
Golden supported Rishi Sunak to win the Tory leadership race held over the summer, and said that the former chancellor had been proven right to warn that Truss’s economic plans would result in a “run on the pound and a real risk for economic growth”.
“I had concerns throughout the leadership contest that some of these policies could be enacted,” he said. “I never thought it would go as far as it has done.
“I would encourage Liz Truss and the UK Government to serve everyone throughout the United Kingdom.”
Tory MP Robert Largan has also publicly attacked Truss's tax cuts, calling them "untenable".
The High Peak MP added: "You cannot freeze benefits and pensions while cutting taxes for millionaires.
"A debt reduction plan needs to be both economically and politically sustainable to be credible."
