By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor
The Chancellor is going to dodge questions in the Commons over his Budget, which has increasingly turned into a farce.
Some Labour members have branded Osborne a “chicken” and even compared him to the cowardly lion, that features in The Wizard of Oz.
John McDonnell the Shadow Chancellor plans to lay into the Chancellor for telling Tory MPs to back I his statement, even though it has a £4.4bn black hole.
However, Osborne will not face McDonnell today and will go AWOL for 24 hours, and will face questions in the Commons tomorrow instead. David Gauke, much more junior than Osborne, might take his place today.
Labour MPs branded the Chancellor a “chicken,” Shadow Solicitor General Jo Stevens said: “He thinks he’s untouchable. He isn’t”. Shadow Commons Leader Chris Bryant tweeted: “If Osborne really puts up Gauke he will regret his folly. A real sign he’s frit. And losing authority.”
Mr McDonnell said: “It’s unacceptable to the country and insulting to Parliament that the Chancellor is not turning up.
“It is deeply disappointing that George Osborne is cowardly hiding behind his junior minister instead of showing some leadership in a crisis of his own making.”
The pressure is growing on the Chancellor, but the David Cameron retains full confidence in him, Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “The PM recognises that we have faced global and economic challenges, we’ve faced a big deficit and debt to bring down, and therefore (faced) tough decisions about how we are a country that lives within its means.
“He has worked very closely with the Chancellor and other Ministers on that to date, and will continue to do so.”
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
