Responding to the announcement that MPs will be asked to vote on a Budget tomorrow with £4bn missing as a result of the U-turn on cuts to Personal Independence Payments, Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:
"It is extraordinary that MPs are being asked to vote on a Budget including this additional £4 billion black hole created over the weekend. There is a huge amount of unnecessary and wasteful spending which the Treasury could and should cut without hurting the most vulnerable in our society or affecting essential services people rely on. The Spending Plan, published by the TaxPayers' Alliance last year, contains numerous fully costed proposals which the Government could take on board straight away.
"Whether it be means-testing the winter fuel allowance, abolishing the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or scrapping the economically unjustifiable HS2, the Treasury could easily raise more than enough to plug the black hole created by this latest U-turn. Why do ministers need another eight months to do the maths?"