Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has denied she is ruling out providing direct cash payments to help people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
The foreign secretary has been under pressure since telling the Financial Times her focus was on lowering taxes “not giving out handouts”.
Speaking at a campaign event in Manchester, Truss said her “priority” was keeping taxes low while also “growing the economy and avoiding a recession” but that she had not said cash payments were off the table.
She added: “What’s wrong is taking money from people in taxes and then giving [it] back to them in benefits. That’s Gordon Brown-style economics and I don’t support that.”
Asked if she is ruling out cash payments in “whatever form” and would only help people through tax cuts, she said: “That’s not what I said.
“What I said is my priority is making sure we’re not taking money off people and then giving it back to them later on. I believe in people keeping their own money and I believe in a low tax economy.”
Her comments came after education secretary James Cleverly, a major Truss supporter, hinted this morning that she would be willing to provide direct help to families as they brace for energy bills to hit £4,200 a year in January.
A spokesperson for her rival Rishi Sunak’s campaign said: “Liz Truss’s policy on the number one issue facing the country is as clear as mud.
“On Friday she ruled out direct support and since then has repeatedly refused to confirm if she will provide it. Yet this morning her supporter James Cleverly has said more support would be provided. This is starting to look like another major U-turn, after she abandoned plans to cut the pay of nurses and teachers outside London last week.
“She now urgently needs to clear up her position. She needs to be honest with the millions of people concerned about how they will pay their bills, and confirm whether or not they can expect direct support from her.”
Sunak has said he “will act” by providing more cash help to households if he becomes PM.
Meanwhile, Truss has also ruled out suggestions that she and Sunak meet with Boris Johnson to thrash out an emergency support package for families.
She said the PM and chancellor Nadhim Zahawi are “capable people, capable of making these decisions” and added: “This kangaroo committee you’re proposing sounds bizarre.”
Cleverly also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “the candidates cannot put their plans into practice until they are prime minister”.
But responding to Cleverly, money saving expert Martin Lewis said: “What a load of bull. That is complete bull. I won’t use the final word on the back of it. That’s just simply not true.”
He added: “The fact that there is internecine warfare between two candidates to lead that party does not stop the government doing anything. Those two candidates could make an agreement about what is going to happen.
“So the idea that they can’t do anything is wrong, they are not willing to do anything. They are not willing to work together in a national crisis that is coming on the scale of the pandemic.”