Tory MPs ‘may help Labour to bring down’ parts of Chancellor’s budget
Tory MPs are reportedly in talks with the Labour Party to defeat certain parts of Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget.
Rebels are apparently in talks with the opposition to make sure that the government’s controversial new measures are brought to a vote in the House of Commons.
Conservative MPs are particularly angry about the plan to abolish the 45p top rate of income tax, LBC and The Times have reported.
One figure who is involved in the cross-party talks told The Times that “it is not all usual suspects”.
“Frankly, everything in parliament is numbers. If you’ve got the numbers there to make it happen, it will happen,” another source told the paper.
MPs are particularly anxious to send a signal to the markets that the party is taking the events of the past few days seriously.
One politician told LBC that if there is another drop in the strength of the pound on 14 October - the day the Bank of England stops buying UK government bonds - then “all bets are off and [Liz Truss] will be gone by Christmas.”
Their worries come as Kwasi Kwarteng’s sticks to his guns and refuses to bring forward the 23 November economic statement.
He has promised to renew his “commitment to spending discipline” in the update in November, but has resisted calls to bring it forward to calm the markets.
Officials from the Office for Budget Responsibility met with the chancellor and the prime minister on Friday. The OBR have said that their verdict on Mr Kwarteng’s tax-slashing Budget will be on the chancellor’s desk within a week.
However the Treasury has said that the assessment won’t be published until November.
