This may seem laudable but anybody with any experience of Conservative politics will know that these Tories have seen the way the wind is blowing and don’t think they can weather this storm.

It is self-preservation that motivates Mr McPartland and his colleagues – not the interests of the general public.

For example, Mr McPartland himself is a supporter of the Bedroom Tax and has consistently voted to reduce state benefits for those who need them.

How’s he looking now?

Not quite as squeaky-clean, I’ll warrant.

A majority of Tory MPs now want George Osborne to drop his “extreme” tax credit cuts, the Conservative MP leading the rebellion against the government has told the Observer.

Less than two weeks before the chancellor’s autumn statement, Stephen McPartland said it had become widely accepted among his colleagues that the £4bn of proposed cuts would “hurt, not help” families on very low incomes.

Osborne is expected to offer some mitigation to the lowest paid when he speaks to MPs on 25 November, having been forced to reconsider the impact of the cuts by a vote in the House of Lords.

However, writing in the Observer, McPartland, the MP for Stevenage, says that only a significant U-turn by the chancellor would now be acceptable to him and his party colleagues. It is understood that HM Revenue & Customs is unlikely to inform families how much they will lose until after Christmas. MPs have only been informed that letters will be sent in “good time”.

McPartland, the MP for Stevenage, who said he had been widely canvassing backbench opinion, writes: “It is clear that a majority of Tory MPs now agree with me that the chancellor must drop these proposals as they stand. The simple fact is that for those families on very low incomes, these changes will hurt them, not help them. The chancellor now has to come forward with measures not only to mitigate the effects of the changes to tax credits but to guarantee to protect families’ child tax credits.

Source: Most Tories oppose ‘extreme’ tax credits cuts, says Conservative MP | Politics | The Guardian

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