DOWNING Street is actively looking to slim down the upcoming House of Commons recess period.
Ministers may ask MPs to sit a day longer than planned before breaking as Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng prepares to set out his mini-budget to help provide households and businesses with support.
They would then be asked to return more swiftly after the political party conferences, for which they take an annual break from Westminster.
The LibDems cancelled their conference due to be held in Brighton between September 17 and 20 as it clashed with the mourning period, but Labour's Liverpool event (September 25) and the Tories Birmingham meet-up (October 2) are both still due to go ahead.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We are looking at changing the recess dates.”
Parliament is currently suspended while political action is paused until an unspecified date after the Queen’s funeral on Monday, and is set to rise on September 22 for the recess.
But this severely restricts the time for Kwarteng’s “fiscal event”, particularly with Liz Truss expected to fly to New York for the United Nations General Assembly following the funeral.
One option for the Government is to ask the Commons to sit until the end of September 23, before breaking in time for the Labour conference in Liverpool that weekend.
MPs are currently scheduled to return on October 17, but with the Tory conference finishing on October 5 and the SNP’s on October 10, there is scope for them to hurry back sooner.
Advice on how No 10 wants to alter the recess period is expected to come towards the end of this week.
The House of Commons is yet to set out when it will sit again after the Queen’s funeral, with a spokeswoman saying: “The House is not expected to sit until after the state funeral and more details will be announced in due course.”
