Another Tory MP announces they will step down at next general election
Stephen McPartland last night became the latest Tory MP to announce they will stand down at the next general election.
The MP for Stevenage said he had made the decision after "much soul searching". He has been an MP since 2010.
Here's his tweet and letter to Rishi Sunak:
Senior Tory MP says cutting taxes at the Budget would be 'irresponsible'
Caroline Nokes, the former minister and current Tory chairman of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, has argued it would be "irresponsible" for Jeremy Hunt to cut taxes at the Budget next month.
Asked if she would be happy with no tax cuts in this Budget, Ms Nokes told TalkTV: "Yeah, I would be happy with no tax cuts. I think it would be irresponsible to have tax cuts and we saw back in the autumn, didn’t we, the dangers of unfunded tax cuts.
"I will be content with that. What I would like to see and I think is going to be a really difficult decisions, is something on childcare."
She continued: "I think it is very obvious at the moment that we have a sector that is really struggling and we have parents that are struggling and that is something that is most keenly although not exclusively felt by women.
"We want mums to go back to work, we want them to be in the economy, we have massive labour shortages but you can’t go back to work if you can’t get decent, affordable childcare, so that would be my big plea for the Chancellor headed into next month’s Budget."
The Tories are fiercely split on tax cuts, with allies of Liz Truss planning to hand the Chancellor an alternative low-tax Budget as they ramp up pressure on him to set out a plan for growth (you can read that story here).