#Brexit budget threat is tearing Tory Party to shreds

Last Updated: June 15, 2016By
Yesterday's man: George Osborne will be an irrelevance if the UK votes 'Leave' [Image: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian].

Yesterday’s man: George Osborne will be an irrelevance if the UK votes ‘Leave’ [Image: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian].

The papers are full of George Osborne’s plan for an emergency ‘Brexit budget’, in the event of a ‘Leave’ vote in the EU referendum on June 23.

The Guardian, for example, claims: “Osborne will warn that he would have to fill the £30bn black hole in public finances triggered by a vote to leave the European Union by hiking income tax, alcohol and petrol duties and making massive cuts to the NHS, schools and defence. In a sign of the panic gripping the remain campaign, the chancellor plans to say that the hit to the economy will be so large that he will have little choice but to tear apart Conservative manifesto promises in an emergency budget delivered within weeks of an out vote.”

It’s almost a classic example of baby throwing his toys out of the pram; if the vote doesn’t go his way, Osborne is threatening to reverse all the policy decisions of the last six years, make liars of Tory colleagues who have promised to protect the NHS (for example) and above all, make everyone pay.

Will he be able to see it through?

Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK says no: “Osborne will not be Chancellor to deliver another budget. If Leave win he and Cameron will have to go… If Remain win he has little chance of staying either because the margin of victory is likely to be so small that this will also require that he and Cameron go.

“Second, this is not true because he will not know the consequence within a weeks, and so would be most unwise to react hastily.

“Third, it may be that running a bigger deficit funded by QE (which will be much easier outside the EU) is a completely viable option post a vote for Leave and he might actually realise that and change his absurd adherence to the demands of a balanced budget.

“Fourth, his forecasting record is so bad… why believe him?”

Jonathan Portes of NIESR also says there won’t be an emergency budget:

160615 Portes on brexit budget

ITV News says more than 50 MPs will vote down George Osborne’s emergency budget.

But just take a look at the list of these MPs’ names. None of them strike This Writer as being particularly anti-cuts, and some have been positive cheerleaders for them. They are: Iain Duncan Smith, Liam Fox, Cheryl Gillan, David Jones, Owen Paterson, John Redwood, Sir Gerald Howarth, Tim Loughton, Crispin Blunt, Sir William Cash, Bernard Jenkin, Julian Lewis, Adam Afriyie, Nigel Adams, Lucy Allan, Steve Baker, Bob Blackman, Peter Bone, Andrew Bridgen, David Burrowes, Maria Caulfield, Christopher Chope, Chris Davies, Philip Davies, David TC Davies, Nadine Dorries, Steve Double, Richard Drax, Nigel Evans, Michael Fabricant, Marcus Fysh, Chris Green, Rebecca Harris, Gordon Henderson, Philip Hollobone, Adam Holloway, Kwasi Kwarteng, Jonathan Lord, Craig Mackinlay, Anne Main, Karl McCartney, Nigel Mills, Anne Marie Morris, Sheryl Murray, David Nuttall, Matthew Offord, Andrew Percy, Tom Pursglove, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrew Rosindell, Henry Smith, Derek Thomas, Anne Marie Trevelyan, Martin Vickers, David Warburton, Bill Wiggin and William Wragg [I’ve bolded up the names of some of the most infamous].

Looking at that list, Owen Jones had it right when he sarcastically tweeted: “Oh, so Tory MPs now oppose cuts, do they! What a miraculous political conversion.”

Miraculous indeed.

Perhaps they know they can say this because it isn’t going to happen.

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7 Comments

  1. NMac June 15, 2016 at 11:28 am - Reply

    Pity the Nasty Party had to drag the rest of the country into their sordid civil war. They really are evil.

  2. Phil Woodford June 15, 2016 at 11:30 am - Reply

    It is certainly vital that people understand the potential consequences of Brexit. It will mean recession and deeper austerity. The Brexiters can pretend that it would be ‘business as usual’, but you can bet that Boris and Gove would soon be taking the axe to public services.

  3. Michael Broadhurst June 15, 2016 at 12:52 pm - Reply

    no services,no council tax.why should we pay for nothing.
    i bet if the truth was known,all the flooding we have been getting in recent years goes back to when councils stopped clearing the drains.
    i regularly photograph the blocked up drains round my area and would sue the council if my house got flooded.
    others should do the same.

  4. Nick June 15, 2016 at 3:39 pm - Reply

    this is dangerous uncharted waters and the only people who will pay the price on leaving the EU are the sick and disabled /pensioners along with the likes on the minimum wage

    The NHS will also be severely hit leading to loss of jobs. The bank of england of which i’m retired from have emergency procedures in place like Quantitative Easing

    what is Quantitative Easing i hear you say ?

    Quantitative easing is an unconventional form of monetary policy where a Central Bank creates new money electronically to buy financial assets, like government bonds. This process aims to directly increase private sector spending in the economy and return inflation to target.

    don’t act the fool next week and vote to leave the EU as the george osbourne i know will punish and he will under the circumstances be able to get this emergency budget through parliament’ as the bank of england ultimately will insist if this country is going to remain viable within the Financial Market Infrastructure also to include the Financial Sector Continuity and Resilience of the banking world

    greece voted to end austerity don’t forget and the prime minister of greece at the time said no and look where that got him (resigned)

    only the governor and co at the bank of england have a say on how this country has to run economically and the prime minister of the day throughout history has always acted on the governors instructions and that included mrs thatcher

  5. Brian June 15, 2016 at 4:41 pm - Reply

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sick of this in-party playground squabbling. ‘We’ never asked for a referendum. I’ll be voting to stay in, why should we risk further turmoil & cuts ?????????

  6. shawn June 15, 2016 at 9:36 pm - Reply

    Hi Mike, the Chancellor’s statement would, I guess, if Britain does not vote to leave the E.U. make it difficult for him to introduce a round of further cuts to say disability benefits. As to do so would leave him open to accusations of hypocrisy and incompetence from both Labour and vengeful Tories. It would appear desperation can be the mother of compromise.

  7. mrmarcpc June 16, 2016 at 12:57 pm - Reply

    If this is really tearing them apart, hopefully this is what will bring them down and out of power!

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