Wycombe MP Steve Baker has been forced to defend himself after being accused of “lying” about opposing the tampon tax.

Mr Baker received a barrage of abuse after he tweeted on January 1: “I’m delighted after years of fighting for it we have axed the hated #TamponTax.

“The vote on 26 Oct 2015 did not end the Tampon Tax.

“New clause 7 required ‘a statement on his strategy to negotiate’ and ‘a report on progress at achieving an exemption’.

“I have always opposed the Tampon Tax and I am glad we have ended it.”

It comes after the contentious tax was scrapped on New Year’s Day after the UK officially left the EU on New Year’s Eve – something that the government says was not possible under EU rules.

A number of social media users accused Mr Baker of lying, with Matt Smith’s tweet – “I’m not letting this deception go. Sorry” – going viral.

Mr Smith put up a screenshot of Mr Baker’s tweet alongside an article in the Independent from October 2015 that listed Mr Baker as one of the many MPs who voted against the amendment to scrap it.

The tweet has, so far, garnered more than 40,000 retweets and been ‘liked’ almost 200,000 times.

A number of other users also jumped on Mr Baker’s jubilant tweet, including comedian Sue Perkins who wrote: “You voted against it.”

Dave Matthews wrote: “Yes the UK could have scrapped VAT on women’s menstruation products as early as 2016, but chose not to.

“There is no evidence that [Steve Baker] has ‘spent years fighting for it’. None. “Stop falling for their lies,” while top TV writer Tony Lee tweeted: “By ‘fighting for it’ I assume you mean ‘fighting FOR the tax, considering that you went against the whip in 2015 and voted against this same cause you claim to be a bastion of.

“Or did you forget that your votes are public knowledge?”

Mr Baker hit back at the critics, saying his opponents were “using half-truths” to “sustain a disgraceful campaign of defamation” and that he “voted with the government” once he had “signed the motion in support”.

He said: “It is dispiriting but the plain truth is that I worked hard to axe the tampon tax and I am glad we have.

“Anyone can read the text of the Commons motion, which is the subject of so much controversy. It required a statement on a strategy and a progress report.

“It did not axe the tax because parliament couldn’t within the EU. The minister was very clear about it.

“I signed the motion in support then voted against when I personally secured the minister’s pledge to negotiate to axe the tax. That’s why I voted with the government.

“So, having personally forced the government to pledge to work to axe the tax, I am proud we have now we can and I'm happy to talk about this day after day.

“The shameless conduct of my opponents in this matter only casts them in a bad light.

“It is ironic having worked so hard to secure this success that I am being vilified for it. I'm happy to set the record straight.”

In the Commons motion that was debated on Monday, October 26, a ‘new clause 7’ states: “Within three months of the passing of this Act, the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall lay before both Houses of Parliament a statement on his strategy to negotiate with the European Union institutions an exemption from value added tax for women’s sanitary protection products.”

Mr Baker says his “personal intervention on the minister” in the Commons that day “sealed the deal”.

According to the Hansard document, he asked the then-financial secretary to the treasury, David Gauke: “I have listened extremely carefully to my hon. Friend and he knows how seriously I take this issue.

“Will he reassure me directly that he will specifically press the European Commission to bring forward measures to zero-rate tampons and sanitary products right across the EU?”

To which Mr Gauke replied: “Yes, I will make those representations to the European Commission to allow member states to have the flexibility to do that, which I think is the key issue here.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed leaving the European Union’s trading arrangements offers the chance to “transform our country”.