Election risk over Danish budget

Denmark’s 16-month-old minority government faces the prospect of a snap election unless it is able to clinch an elusive double-deal on the 2017 budget and on tax cuts for the rich.

“We have until the weekend to close the budget, give or take some days,” said finance minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen.

Prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Liberal Party needs the support of politicians from three smaller parties to push the budget through parliament.