A host of Christians are among 57 Eurosceptic Tory MPs to threaten a mass rebellion on their own party's budget if it voted to the leave the EU.
The warning came after George Osborne said a vote for Brexit means he would be forced to raise taxes and cut spending to plug a "black hole" in public finances. The Chancellor said he would raise income tax by up to three per cent and cut £2.5bn from the NHS' budget and more than £1bn from both the defence and education budgets.
A letter signed by the discontent MPs said they would refuse to support such a budget. With the government's slender majority such a move could trigger an early general election as a budget defeat would be seen as a "no confidence" vote in the government.
The list of signatories was headed by the Catholic MP and former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith. It also included a number of leading evangelical MPs including former director of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, David Burrowes.
Another Christian MP Steve Baker said he was "shocked" by the plans which he said broke Tory election promises.
Osborne issued the warning on Tuesday evening and told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Britain would not be able to afford its current spending level after a Brexit.
"The point is the country does not have a plan if we quit the EU. We'd wake up in just over a week's time with no economic plan for our country, with years of instability," he said.
"You'd have to cut your cloth accordingly: the country would not be able to afford to size of the public services we have at the moment and we would have to increase taxes."
He continued: "Let's be clear – no Conservative wants to raise taxes, least of all me. But equally Conservatives understand that you cannot have chaos in your public finances. You would have to deal with the hole that would emerge in your public finances if you quit the EU."
