Truss drops tax cut for top UK earners to fend off rebellion

The scrapping of the 45% rate for the highest earners had been the least popular measure

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng and Prime Minister Liz Truss during the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.

Prime Minister Liz Truss dropped a plan to cut taxes for the highest earners just 10 days after announcing it, in a bid to fend off a mounting rebellion from Members of Parliament in her own Conservative Party.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced the decision in a tweet early Monday, saying “we get it, and we have listened.” In a statement posted with his tweet, he said the decision to scrap the 45% rate of income tax had become a “distraction.” The pound jumped as much as 1% before giving up some of those gains to trade 0.2% higher against the dollar in early trading.