London: Liz Truss’s government in the UK is in chaos after Chancellor of Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the Home Secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the Prime Minister, media reports said.
Cabinet discipline also appeared to have broken down on Tuesday, as two ministers, Robert Buckland and Penny Mordaunt, suggested they did not back the idea of cutting benefits – an idea floated by those close to No 10, The Guardian reported.
Truss and Kwarteng embarked on a round of media interviews intended to convey a message that they were getting a grip after the damaging u-turn.
However, they caused more confusion as both said their medium-term fiscal plan would still happen on November 23, despite government sources having briefed that it would be brought forward to try to reassure the markets, The Guardian reported.
Adding to the sense of open warfare in the party, Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused Tory MPs of having “staged a coup and undermined the PM in an unprofessional way” to force the reversal of the abolition of the 45p rate.
“We are one party, the Prime Minister has been elected. She has got a serious mandate to deliver. She did talk about tax cuts all through the summer in a pretty exhausting process. She is doing what it said on the tin,” she told the Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast.
Braverman was backed by Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke who said: “Suella speaks a lot of good sense, as usual.”
This was, however, contested by backbench MPs, including Simon Hoare and Steve Double, who said they had been sticking up for their constituents in opposing the abolition of the 45p rate, The Guardian reported.
(IANS)
