Former Cabinet minister Sir Alan Duncan has described the recent budget as a “colossal disaster” and believes the Government now faces real trouble in winning back public trust.

Mr Duncan said voters would no longer blame Vladimir Putin for the problems they are facing, and will choose to focus on Liz Truss instead.

He told Alastair Stewart on GB News: “What the budget did was clear the decks of a lot of irritating taxes which a lot of Conservatives over the last 15 or so years have not liked. But it was delivered at the wrong time in the wrong way and into markets which were fragile and jittery.

“So it has been a colossal disaster. There was no explanation or philosophical justification made in advance that he’d (the Chancellor) had sacked the Secretary of Treasury, so it looked like it was arrogance.

“And I’m afraid the judgement of people is going to be very, very harsh. Now the issue is, is that judgement just going to evaporate over time? Or is it now so deeply entrenched in their thinking that there is no way back for the Government?

“The inevitable consequence of what happened last week is that people are going to pay more because interest rates are going to go up and the pound is under strain. And what this has done, what this budget if you call it that has done, is to magnify the market and price pressure, which was already there. The markets were very, very fragile. They were very, very awkwardly placed. And this is stress if you like, played into that mood and exaggerated everything.

“I think this is so difficult and dangerous now for the government because people have it in the head that the Government will be to blame for the economic pain. You can’t blame it on Putin anymore, is what they will think. And that I think means that the Government is going to be in a very, very difficult position

On the timing of the Chancellor’s budget he added: “What they’ve done is they’ve just dumped this idea of ideological thinking, much of which is perfectly valid in the long term, but the judgement of doing it at a time where we’ve had COVID. We’ve got to Ukraine, all of the inflationary pressures across the world are difficult.

“We’ve already got very high borrowing so suddenly to increase borrowing by many ten of billions, has dramatically spooked the markets. Now there’s no turning back on that. Whereas people might have said okay, Putin has screwed up our life, they are now going to blame the government entirely for the mortgages they either cannot get or cannot pay.

His comments come as Jeremy Hunt has urged his Tory colleagues to give Liz Truss time.

Mr Hunt, a former leadership candidate, admitted the Government had endured a difficult week but said the new Prime Minister deserved a greater chance.

He told GB News today (SAT): “I think we have to give Liz Truss time. I mean, I didn’t vote for her myself. But she won the election fair and square and we have to give her time.

“I think that you know in a couple of months time the markets will have settled down. We will have shown the country as Conservatives how we’re going to balance the books because you have to do that.

“We’ll have seen the rest of her economic package, and I’m sure she and Kwasi will have a very substantial one. Then I think that’s the time to make a judgment. I think it’s a bit premature. It obviously was a very wobbly week. But we have to let things settle down. And that I think will be the time to make judgments.”

His comments came after Liz Truss Prime Minister Liz Truss admitted there has been “disruption” in the UK economy following the mini-budget.

However she said she had “acted decisively” and would keep an “iron grip” on the nation’s finances.

The government unveiled £45bn of tax cuts funded by borrowing last week – but did not accompany it with the usual economic assessment of the plans.

That worried investors causing the pound to slump and forcing the Bank of England to step in to reassure markets.

Ms Truss has resisted calls to reverse the cuts or to bring forward publication of the independent fiscal watchdog’s economic forecasts and analysis of her tax plans.

The prime minister said she was “committed” to publishing the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast on 23 November, the same day the chancellor is due to set out further economic plans, after she met the OBR on Friday.

But some Conservative MPs want to see this sooner to reassure the financial markets after turbulent trading.

The Treasury argues it should wait until additional changes are announced.

Ms Truss also confirmed on Thursday that she was looking for cuts across government as a way to pay for the mini-budget measures.