Boris Johnson's allies defend his pledge to cut income tax for high earners

Supporters of Boris Johnson today rushed to defend his plans to slash taxes for people on middle and high incomes after they sparked a huge row.

Senior Tory MPs clashed over whether increasing the threshold for paying the 40p rate of income tax from £50,000 to £80,000 was the right priority for Britain after years of austerity.

Security minister Ben Wallace, who is backing Mr Johnson to become prime minister, argued that the tax cut would benefit people such as senior teachers and high-ranking police officers who had been “dragged” into paying the higher rate by Labour’s “trick” of freezing the threshold.

Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon said the shake-up would be “phased over a number of years” and was part of a package including more help for businesses.

But both Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and Nicky Morgan, who chairs the Treasury select committee, suggested the focus should instead be on lower-rate taxpayers.

Justice Secretary David Gauke tweeted that Mr Johnson’s tax announcement was the “wrong priority”.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the net cost of Mr Johnson’s plan would be around £10 billion, as the ceiling for paying National Insurance contributions would also go up.

“It helps the 10 per cent highest earners and the group who would benefit the most would be the high-income pensioners who don’t pay National Insurance at all,” said IFS director Paul Johnson.

This group includes some Tory party members, who will vote to decide who replaces Theresa May, but the IFS chief added: “He’s (Boris Johnson’s) right when he says that the number of higher-rate taxpayers has risen really dramatically over the last 20 years … we have got four million higher-rate taxpayers in a system which was originally designed only to hit the very highest earners.”

He also stated: “What we would really like to hear from Mr Johnson, and indeed all the other leadership contenders, is what is their overall fiscal and economic strategy … how much are they willing to borrow and what are their priorities?”

Other candidates have made major spending plans including ex-Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who has proposed a 5p cut in income tax and Environment Secretary Michael Gove who is calling for VAT to be axed.