Michael Gove will NOT pledge to back Liz Truss's budget

Michael Gove will NOT pledge to back Liz Truss’s budget if she wins Tory leadership

  • Michael Gove yesterday refused to guarantee support Liz Truss’s first Budget
  • Mr Gove spoke out as leading business group said Britain is already in recession
  • He was sacked as Levelling Up Secretary hours before Boris Johnson resigned

Michael Gove yesterday refused to guarantee he will support Liz Truss’s first Budget if, as expected, she becomes prime minister next week.

The former Cabinet minister spoke out as a leading business group said Britain is already in recession and faces an increase in ‘extreme inflationary pressures’ in the run-up to Christmas.

Mr Gove, who is a supporter of Rishi Sunak, said: ‘Obviously, if Liz wins and she brings forward a Budget, I, like everyone, will look at the measures.

‘But it’s my natural instinct always to support the leader of the Conservative Party.’

The former Cabinet minister spoke out as a leading business group said Britain is already in recession and faces an increase in ‘extreme inflationary pressures’ in the run-up to Christmas

Mr Gove, who has been the subject of speculation that he could step down as an MP, also said he would remain in the Commons but is not expecting to return to government if Miss Truss wins.

He was sacked as Levelling Up Secretary by Boris Johnson hours before the Prime Minister announced he was stepping down.

Asked if he will be at the ‘top table’ if Miss Truss wins the Conservative leadership race, Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I don’t think so.

‘She will want to make sure that she has a Cabinet wholly aligned with her agenda and plans. I don’t anticipate at all being in government if Liz wins.’

It came as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) downgraded its outlook for the UK economy and forecast that by the end of this year prices will be climbing three times faster than wages, with inflation at 14 per cent.

It pointed to surging energy costs, shrinking household spending power and a sombre global picture dragging on exports – factors initially triggered by the pandemic but compounded by the war in Ukraine.

Alex Veitch, the BCC’s director of policy, said: ‘Our latest quarterly economic forecast will not be of any comfort to either consumers or businesses.’

Mr Gove was sacked as Levelling Up Secretary by Boris Johnson hours before the Prime Minister announced he was stepping down

He said inflation was ‘running rampant’, not only raising costs for businesses but leaving some struggling to remain open. ‘The extreme inflationary pressures already present are only likely to increase as we head towards Christmas,’ he added.

The Bank of England has already predicted a recession starting at the end of this year and stretching through 2023.

But the BCC believes that it will start earlier. Its forecast suggests that, having already shrunk by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the economy will have contracted by a further 0.1 per cent from July to September and 0.3 per cent at the end of 2022.

A recession is normally defined as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

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