More humiliations are fast approaching for Truss’s government

Editorial: Yet, despite the clamour to replace her from her own MPs, the prime minister has some reason to believe she can survive until the next election

(Dave Brown)

Though entirely in the national interest and well overdue, it is painful to watch the unravelling of the mini-Budget and the government’s “plan for growth”.

Having ditched the “distraction” of abolishing the 45 per cent additional rate of income tax, we are now due another U-turn, or at least a partial one, this time on corporation tax. The cut in national insurance seems to have escaped the cull, thanks to opposition support, and Labour seems to be content to go along with the earlier-than-planned reduction in the basic rate of tax, to 19 per cent.

The energy price guarantee also looks secure. The minor reforms to stamp duty, land tax and dividend taxation may survive. On the spending side, infrastructure investment and “levelling up” projects look vulnerable – another violation of Ms Truss’s stated policy (and the 2019 manifesto). At the moment, the mini-Budget is living up to its nickname of a “hung budget”, dependent on the indulgence of Tory critics and the other political parties.