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Penny Mordaunt has become the first cabinet minister to openly join the rebellion against Liz Truss’s plans to cut benefits. The Prime Minister had hoped to make savings on welfare by not increasing it by the same rate as inflation.
In a new blow to the Prime Minister’s authority, Ms Mordaunt, who was a leadership candidate and narrowly failed to beat Ms Truss into getting into the final two, made it clear she opposed any move to cut welfare.
It followed Michael Gove yesterday announcing at a fringe event in the conference that he and other Tory rebels would vote against the measure.
Ms Mordaunt, who is Leader of the House, told Times radio: “I’ve always supported – whether it’s pensions, whether it’s our welfare system – keeping pace with inflation. It makes sense to do so. That’s what I voted for before.
“We want to make sure that people are looked after and that people can pay their bills. We are not about trying to help people with one hand and take away with another.”
READ MORE: Dorries demands general election as she blasts ‘widespread dismay’
Speaking on LBC this morning the Prime Minister insisted that there would be no more U-turns.
But she is facing a torrid time from former allies as well as supporters of Rishi Sunak.
One Tory donor at the conference in Birmingham told Express.co.uk: “It’s like the Conservative Party is six parties and they are all trying to stab each other.”
One faction to re-emerge are supporters of Boris Johnson with former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries yesterday demanding that Ms Truss calls a general election.
But while Ms Mordaunt is the only cabinet minister to publicly demand a change of policy others are privately furious over the 45p U-turn.
Express.co.uk learnt yesterday that ministers were given just a two-minute warning before it was announced after several had been making efforts to defend the original policy.
One minister told express.co.uk that he and his colleagues were “apoplectic.”
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