A former Conservative MSP has slammed Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng over their tax slashing mini-budget insisting "Britain need a Labour government".
Professor Adam Tomkins, who represented the Glasgow region from 2016 to 2021, accused the new Prime Minister and Chancellor of "trashing" the Tory brand and the UK economy.
Following Kwarteng's announcement on Friday that slashed tax cuts for the richest, the pound was sent spiralling, with it eventually falling to an all-time low against the dollar.
The IMF issued a statement on Tuesday night saying it was "closely monitoring" the situation in the UK and urged the Chancellor to "re-evaluate the tax measures".
Writing in a column in the Herald Tomkins took aim at the Tories saying, "if you really want growth you don’t start with tax cuts for the wealthiest in society".
He added: "Britain needs a Labour government. That’s quite a line for a Tory to write, but it’s true. All governments run their course. The Thatcher/Major years came to their natural end just as the Blair/Brown years came to theirs. And now, it is clear, the Conservatives’ time is up.
"When Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor at her party’s conference in Liverpool this week, sounds more prudent than Kwasi Kwarteng, the new man in No 11, you know the Tories are in the deepest trouble.
"Conservative governments are elected not because people love them: they are elected when people trust them. And what we are witnessing right now is not only the Conservative party trashing its own brand: it’s the Conservative party trashing the economy."
"This is not because Mr Kwarteng and his boss, Liz Truss, are wrong to pursue growth. They are right to put it front and centre and they are equally right to condemn a Treasury orthodoxy which, for far too long, has failed to do so.
"But the means they have selected to drive the growth to which they aspire are the wrong measures, in the wrong order, at the wrong time.
"If you really want growth you don’t start with tax cuts for the wealthiest in society and hope that the effects trickle down. You start by stimulating the supply we need to meet the demand that is already there. There is demand for affordable housing in attractive places – but there is a chronic lack of supply."
Sterling fell back to 1.06 US dollars at one stage, having recovered to 1.08 US dollars on Tuesday after Monday's bloodbath saw it reach an all-time low against the greenback.
The FTSE 100 Index also fell sharply after opening on Wednesday, falling more than 2 per cent at one stage - down nearly 140 points at 6846.4 - and appearing to head for its lowest level for more than a year.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
