A third former cabinet minister said: “The 45p tariff is the part we’re all getting into and it has completely overshadowed the energy intervention. The naivety and stupidity of the mini-budget was that nobody talked about the energy package ; that just wasn’t happening at all.”
He said making it a confidence motion, meaning Tory MPs would lose the whip if they voted against it, would be “risking an open revolt”.
Another former minister said: “It’s exactly what some of us warned would happen. It’s a disaster and totally self-inflicted. It’s like Black Monday 1992 all over again.
“There’s no way it’s going to pass in the House. The Prime Minister and Chancellor will have to do a U-turn and change the policy on the tax cuts and energy bailout with a much more targeted package and hope the public doesn’t care the optics, just their bills. Or else the Bank of England will have to keep raising interest rates and cause a massive housing crash.”
A senior MP pointed out that MPs would never vote against a full budget, but said that because it was a mini-budget there would be “all sorts of banter”. The MP, who backed Sunak in the leadership contest, pointed to the “fundamental political weakness” of Ms Truss, whose support is “very shallow”.
Another said the scale of anger was “massive”, adding: “People are really upset – this is a completely self-inflicted crisis. We have to be the party of financial responsibility or we’re nothing. It’s very it is possible that people will vote against the 45p tax rate – there are a lot of people who have no reason to support the government.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “Last week the Chancellor set out the first stage of the Government’s Growth Plan, with further reforms to the supply chain in the coming weeks, including announcements on changes to the planning system, business regulations , childcare, immigration, agricultural productivity and digital infrastructure.
“And the chancellor has instructed the OBR to draw up an economic and fiscal forecast that will be published on November 23. Alongside this, he will set out the government’s Medium Term Fiscal Plan, which will be based on a commitment to bring down debt as a proportion of GDP over the medium term.”
Additional information: As with all forecasts, the content of the forecast will evolve over the course of the process to take account of new information, for example, new published statistics or any new policy decisions. It would not be appropriate to provide running updates during this process.
“The Government is committed to working closely with the OBR. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor will meet Richard Hughes tomorrow to discuss the forecasting process and economic and fiscal developments since March. The Chancellor and the OBR will meet as usual throughout the forecasting process. .”