Liz Truss has dodged a Commons showdown with Keir Starmer as her leadership hangs by a thread.
The Labour leader tabled an urgent question demanding the prime minister make a statement on the economic crisis.
It came after Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor, ripped up Truss’s mini-budget by overturning almost all of its unfunded tax cuts and watering down her energy price guarantee.
But instead of turning up herself to face MPs, the PM instead sent Commons leader Penny Mordaunt.
A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “We were hoping to hear the Prime Minister explain if this was all worth demolishing the economy for. But it seems the lady’s not for turning up.”
Increasing numbers of Tory MPs are publicly calling for Truss to quit after the mandate on which she was elected Tory leader was left in tatters by the chancellor.
Having already U-turned on abolishing the 45p tax rate paid for by the highest earners and plans to freeze corporation tax, Hunt announced that cutting the basic rate of income tax to 19p, due to kick in next April, had been dumped.
And in a further humiliation, he also announced that the energy price guarantee, which Truss had claimed would save the average household £1,000 a year until October 2024, will be scaled back from next April.
It is unclear whether Truss will show up for Hunt’s emergency statement to the Commons later this afternoon, when he will give more details of his plans to balance the nation’s books.
He has already warned that taxes will have to go up and public spending will be cut - despite Truss insisting last week that would not happen.
Hunt said: “There will be more difficult decisions, I’m afraid, on both tax and spending as we deliver our commitment to get debt falling as a share of the economy over the medium term.
“All departments will need to redouble their efforts to find savings and some areas of spending will need to be cut.”
In a bid to shore up the PM’s position, Hunt met with Tory MPs earlier today to explain the raft of U-turns he was announcing.
A Tory source said: “The chancellor emphasised the need for stability and said that the PM should be commended for changing tack in the face of the deteriorating global economic situation.
“He said that the PM had backed him to the hilt in making the difficult decisions of which there are more to come.
“The chancellor said that voters look forward not back and as Conservatives we will have by far the best long term plan for the economy.”