A Tory peer has been mocked after he blamed the economic chais engulfing the UK on the prospect of Keir Starmer becoming prime minister.
Daniel Hannan said a Labour victory at the next election would lead to “higher taxes, higher spending, and a weaker economy”.
His comments, in an article for the ConservativeHome website, came after the International Monetary Fund took the highly unusual step of publicly criticising the government’s economic strategy.
They urged Kwasi Kwarteng to U-turn on his decision to cut the 45p rate of income tax paid by those earning more than £150,000.
The chancellor’s decision, announced in last week’s mini-budget, has already led to turmoil on the international money markets, with the value of the pound plummeting and experts predicting huge rises in interest rates.
In his article, Hannan said: “To blame these tiny tax reductions for the fall in the pound is akin to a fly alighting on an exhausted shire horse as it lies down to sleep, and telling itself that it wrestled the mighty beast to the ground.”
The former MEP went on: “The fiscal statement has been so widely mischaracterised that I suspect several voters genuinely now believe that the Tories are trying to boost the economy by making the rich better off.
What the sterling sell-off may have reflected – and what those Deutsche Bank analysts may clumsily have been suggesting – is the belief that this budget has made a Labour victory more likely.”
He added: “In other words (and I am aware of how much this runs against the current narrative) what we have seen since Friday is partly a market adjustment to the increased probability that Sir Keir Starmer will win in 2024 or 2025 – leading to higher taxes, higher spending, and a weaker economy.”
Lord Hannan’s remarks were immediately savaged on Twitter.
