A TORY MP has dismissed reports his party colleagues will rebel against Friday’s budget.
Marco Longhi was responding to claims that some in his party are so concerned about the massive level of borrowing unveiled last week that many could look to vote against the proposals.
Speaking to GB News today (SUNDAY), Mr Longhi said: “Well, I’d be very surprised if that’s the case. But what I would say is that whenever we have a sudden shift in what we have become accustomed to, and certainly the Treasury has been operating in a particular way since 2008, then people will automatically try and use a particular set of arguments against what other people might be arguing for. What we’re arguing for now is that more of the same does not work and will not work.
“We need a Government that is going to be bold and we need growth. We can’t keep just redistributing the same size cake. We need to grow that cake, so everyone is better off. So for me, if we are talking about, for example, the pound, well, we can obviously lose the pound by increasing interest rates even further. Is that what we want to do when we want to grow the economy? Is that what we want to do when we do have a problem with the cost of living? No, I don’t think we want to and so we do want to maintain the independence of the Bank of England. Yes. Personally, and I’m not an economist, I would have perhaps not increased the rates as much as we have because we still want to help the economy to keep growing. The proposals that Kwasi Kwarteng and the Prime Minister have come forward with will absolutely do that.”
Commenting on the PM’s first weeks in office, he continued: “I think she’s doing exceptionally well and I’ve always been a huge fan of Liz’s even when I started as a parliamentarian in 2019. When I decided to back Kemi I made a calculated decision at the time in terms of what I felt that my voters would have sought in the first instance before we even had an opportunity to listen to all of the candidates and the debates. And in Kemi, I saw someone who reflected that because Kemi was very strong in backing Brexit all the way and I represent a constituency that is approximately 75% Brexit backing.
“But soon after Kemi was not in the race anymore, I made it very clear that I was backing Liz all the way and I have done even in the chamber from day one because I’ve seen in her someone who always delivers and someone who actually does what she says she’s going to do. So 100% behind Liz.
“Time isn’t on our side, but I do feel that the majority of this country now will recognize that the Conservative Party is on their side. The hard-working people that we keep talking about, people are talking about this budget being ideologically a massive shift to the right and all the rest of it. Well, of course, let the institutions say that but I don’t believe that a reduction on a penny in income tax is anything, particularly right-wing. I don’t believe that scrapping the proposed increase in national insurance is anything right-wing.
“If you look at the speeches coming out of the Labour Party, ‘we’re going to be greener than green’ and where have they been for the last three years? The Conservative government has led the planet on green, economic change. So all they’re trying to do is copy what the Conservative Party has done for the last three years.”
