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Votes to implement mini-Budget will not take place until next spring

Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, and Liz Truss, the Prime Minister, could have some political breathing room - Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, and Liz Truss, the Prime Minister, could have some political breathing room - Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

Crunch votes to implement last week’s mini-Budget will not take place until next spring, The Telegraph understands, putting off potential rebellions until 2023.

Many of the tax-cutting measures which Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, announced last month will not need to be passed in the House of Commons until next March.

That includes bringing forward the 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax and scrapping a planned rise in corporation tax, two of the most costly moves in the package.

It means that Tory rebels hoping to attach amendments to the Finance Bill may have to wait almost six months, potentially buying Liz Truss some political breathing room.

Votes on reversing the National Insurance rise and implementing a stamp duty cut are expected sooner but appear to have wide support among the Tory benches.

The National Insurance move was a central pillar of her successful Tory leadership bid over the summer, meaning few Tory MPs are expected to rebel on the vote due on Tuesday.

There was confusion on Tuesday as Mr Kwarteng appeared to row back on Downing Street indications on Monday night that he would reveal his new fiscal plan earlier than planned.

Mr Kwarteng said that the so-called “medium-term fiscal plan”, which will spell out his approach to bringing down debt and restraining spending, was coming on November 23.

But that appeared to contradict word from his allies 24 hours earlier suggesting the announcement and the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast would actually come sooner.

There had been an expectation both announcements would come later this month, in time for the Bank of England’s interest rates decision on November 3. That appears in doubt.

The failure to produce an OBR forecast alongside the mini-Budget was jumped on by economists and critics to partly explain the reaction from the markets.

Mr Kwarteng on Tuesday also appeared to cast some blame on the “pressure” of the Queen's death for mistakes in his tax-cutting fiscal statement.

He said: “We had a nation in mourning and then, literally, four days after the funeral we had the mini-budget.

“It was a high speed, high-pressure environment and we could, as David Cameron used to say, have prepared the pitch a bit better.”

Mr Kwarteng has been under pressure after his mini-Budget triggered market turbulence and a political backlash, leading to scrapping the abolition of the 45p top rate of income tax.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative conference on Tuesday night, Mr Kwarteng complained that his energy price freeze was getting too little attention because of the 45p tax row.

The Chancellor said: “If you look at the energy intervention, I mean, nobody's talking about the energy intervention.

“That was a huge use of the balance sheet to help people. People were facing bills of potentially £6,000 next year, and we've intervened.

“There's gonna be a limit of £2,500. That's a huge intervention.”

Treasury inherited from Boris Johnson 'unsustainable'

However, the Chancellor defended the measures in the round, saying he was "very proud" of the measures announced.

Mr Kwarteng has also said the Treasury he inherited from Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson was “unsustainable”.

He said: “We were spending billions and billions and billions and raising the money in tax.”

“How can that be sustainable, when we have a very, very high tax burden and very low growth? We had to come off that trajectory.”

He called himself a “compassionate Conservative” inspired by his mother.

Mr Kwarteng said: “There was a phrase about 20 years ago: compassionate conservatism. I have always been drawn to that.”

He added: “It’s the people’s money - we raise it through tax. And if we do that we have a moral obligation to look after it.”