100 Tory MPs would block Osborne's budget - claim

CONSERVATIVE in-fighting over the EU referendum has erupted as the Chancellor's  proposal for an emergency budget is blocked by fellow MPs.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Jun 2016, 18:36 BST
Updated 15th Jun 2016, 19:38 BST
Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, who is backing Brexit.Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, who is backing Brexit.
Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, who is backing Brexit.

It took just two hours for 57 MPs in favour of leaving the EU to issue a joint statement saying they would vote against their own Government’s plan on holding a second budget in 2016 if Britain leaves the EU.

Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, is among the statement’s signatories and said that the true number of Tories that would vote down an emergency budget from George Osborne is closer to 100.

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This figure, combined with Labour’s announcement that their MPs would vote against another austerity package, makes it mathematically impossible for Mr Osborne to pull-off his suggestion.

Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.

Mr Adams, who is backing Brexit and welcomed Boris Johnson on his campaign tour of Yorkshire last month, said: “Number 10 and the Remain team are panicking and this threat of an emergency budget is a desparate attempt to scare voters into voting to Remain in the EU.

"I shall not be supporting a budget which is effectively going against anything we stated just under a year ago. George Osborne won’t be bringing forward this budget if we leave the EU - it isn’t going to happen. He won’t win it, it’s clear.”

The Government said that a number of promises it made in its manifesto at the General Election may be broken if voters quit the EU.

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The spokesperson for the Prime Minister said: “The situation you’ve got here is the most respected and impeccably independent bodies are warning very clearly that because of the economic shock and potential recession that would follow that by 2020, you would have a £40bn black hole in your public finances.”

Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Chancellor George Osborne who has promised an emergency Budget if Britain votes to leave the EU.

Mr Adams said that the Remain campaign had discredited itself but would not be drawn on the damage Mr Osborne had done to his own reputation by pledging a hypothetical budget.

If Britain leaves the EU he wants David Cameron to stay in charge of the negotiations and believes the party will unite once again.

He said: “I’ve spoken to colleagues who were around in the 1990s and I’ve been told this is a walk in the park compared to that.”

Related topics:MPsLabourBritain