Tax Credits: Michelle Mone hit by backlash after tweeting people should be ‘proactive’ and never ‘look for excuses’

Mone was one of the prominent millionaires to support cuts to tax credits in the House of Lords

Michelle Mone was among the new appointees (Getty Images)

Michelle Mone has been blasted for tweeting that people should never “look for excuses” and “be proactive” a day after voting to oppose delays to tax credit cuts.

Mone was one of a number of prominent millionaires among peers supporting cuts to tax credits in the House of Lords. A former Labour supporter, she left school in Glasgow at 15 and went on to launch the underwear brand Ultimo in 1996. She is now worth an estimated £20 million.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Karren Brady and the former HSBC chairman Stephen Green were also among those who tried to vote the amendments down which gave affected tax credits claimants a three-year reprieve.

Mone was heavily criticised on Twitter when it emerged that she had used her first House of Lords vote to oppose the delay in tax credits. She did not address the backlash directly, but a tweet encouraging hard work was met by a number of angry responses on Wednesday.

In a separate tweet explaining the role of upper house which has since been deleted, she wrote:

“Under a long-standing Parliamentary convention the House of Lords does not block any government measure concerning the nation's finances.

“This is because peers are unelected and have no right to reject measures to do with tax and spending which have the support of MPs chosen by the public.”

Mone was recently appointed to lead a Government review looking at ways start-up businesses in areas of high unemployment can be supported.